Opinion ID: 472234
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Joint Exclusion-Deportation Proceeding

Text: 16 The petitioners claim the IJ exceeded his authority in holding a combined deportation and exclusion hearing, asserting that the statute and regulations do not authorize such a proceeding. An IJ is authorized to conduct both exclusion and deportation proceedings. INA Sec. 236(a), 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1226(a); INA Sec. 242(b), 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252(b); 8 C.F.R. Sec. 3.10. With respect to deportation proceedings, an IJ is authorized to determine deportability, to adjudicate certain applications, and to take any other action consistent with applicable law and regulations as may be appropriate. 8 C.F.R. Sec. 242.8(a). In exclusion cases, [s]ubject to any specific limitation prescribed by the Act and this chapter, immigration judges shall also exercise the discretion and authority conferred upon the Attorney General by the Act as is appropriate and necessary for the disposition of such cases. 8 C.F.R. Sec. 236.1. The IJ thus is empowered to exercise a reasonable degree of latitude in conducting deportation and exclusion proceedings. Petitioners' counsel conceded at oral argument that there is no express statutory or regulatory bar to the joining of exclusion and deportation proceedings; thus it was not an error per se to proceed jointly. 17 Still, the question remains as to whether the IJ's decision to conduct the joint hearing was an abuse of discretion under the facts of this case. It is difficult to so conclude. As the IJ noted, this was an unusual case involving members of a single family, and the family's representative had requested a joint hearing on their behalf. Under such circumstances, it was not a clear abuse of discretion to conduct the joint hearing, provided no actual prejudice to the petitioners resulted. 18 Joining exclusion and deportation proceedings together is an inadvisable practice, as the BIA noted in its decision, due to the possibility of prejudice against an alien subject to deportation proceedings. An alien in deportation proceedings is entitled to certain procedural protections and substantive rights not available in an exclusion proceeding. 2 See generally Landon v. Plasencia, 459 U.S. 21, 25-26, 103 S.Ct. 321, 325-26, 74 L.Ed.2d 21 (1982). 19 Most importantly, constitutional due process protections adhere to an alien who has obtained admission, lawfully or otherwise, to this country but is subject to deportation proceedings. Landon v. Plasencia, 459 U.S. at 32, 103 S.Ct. at 329. By contrast, an alien seeking admission to the country, and thus subject to exclusion proceedings, requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application, for the power to admit or exclude aliens is a sovereign prerogative. Id.; see also Shaughnessy v. Mezei, 345 U.S. 206, 215, 73 S.Ct. 625, 630, 97 L.Ed. 956 (1953) (no due process rights for non-entrant aliens). But see Landon v. Plasencia, 459 U.S. at 33, 103 S.Ct. at 329 (returning permanent resident alien is entitled to constitutional protections if absence was not extended). 20 However, there are no allegations in this case that the petitioners were denied any procedural or substantive rights, of statutory or constitutional origin, generally available to those in deportation proceedings. Most significantly, they were permitted to apply for suspension of deportation, a form of discretionary relief available only to aliens in deportation proceedings. See Castillo-Magallon v. INS, 729 F.2d 1227, 1228 (9th Cir.1984); see also INA, Sec. 244, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1254(a)(1). Had the IJ limited the rights and protections available to petitioners to that lesser level generally accorded in an exclusion proceeding, a reversible error would have resulted. That did not occur. 21 The only prejudice the petitioners claim is an alleged confusion in the proceedings resulting from the intertwining of evidence relating to Rosa's excludability and evidence relevant to deportation of the other petitioners. Nearly every hearing involving more than one issue results in the disjunctive presentation of evidence relevant to the various issues in the case. Upon the conclusion of all the evidence, the trier of fact parses the evidence relevant to the various issues in making his decision. The record indicates the IJ properly considered the evidence relevant to suspension of deportation, and distinguished the evidence relevant only to Rosa's excludability.