Opinion ID: 158209
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Diocesan Services

Text: 37 In the present case, the district court was correct to deny Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez the defense of entrapment by estoppel based on Diocesan Services' alleged misrepresentations. Diocesan Services is not a government agency. Rather, it is a private entity that provides assistance to indigent aliens who have been deported. Even if the acts of this private company could somehow be considered state action because it is listed on a form provided by the government, Diocesan Services and its employees are not government officials charged with interpreting, administering, or enforcing the immigration laws of the United States. Thus, the district court properly denied Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez's entrapment by estoppel defense based on Diocesan Services' alleged misrepresentations. 38 Further, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez's alleged reliance on Diocesan Services is unreasonable in light of . . . the point of law misrepresented, and the substance of the misrepresentation. Nichols, 21 F.3d at 1018. Had Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez wanted to legally enter the United States, he should have written the INS office or the American Consular Office nearest his residence abroad as to how to obtain permission to return after deportation, as he was specifically instructed on the INS Form I-294 he received when he was deported. Instead, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez twice chose to enter the country, without the permission of the Attorney General and without any misconception as to his illegal status in the United States, to meet with Diocesan Services. Moreover, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez, after his last meeting with Diocesan Services, admitted he was in the country illegally to the INS clerk in El Paso, Texas, when he presented his application for a temporary work permit. Under these circumstances, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez's alleged reliance on Diocesan Services was unreasonable.