Opinion ID: 795173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Collateral Challenge to the 1991 Deportation

Text: 9 Having determined that we may review Charleswell's attempt to collaterally challenge the 1991 Deportation order, we next address whether he is able to meet the Mendoza-Lopez requirements. We conclude he cannot. Charleswell is unable to demonstrate that he was deprived of the opportunity for judicial review after the IJ's plainly adverse order deporting him. The record reveals that, despite the monumental error made by the IJ during the hearing, Charleswell had the opportunity to appeal the deportation order. 5 Charleswell seeks to excuse his decision not to appeal by arguing that [t]he [Immigration J]udge then orally stated that he is deporting Charleswell to the [United States] Virgin Islands. Having lived in St. Thomas for most of his life, having had family in St. Thomas, Charleswell saw no reason to appeal. We are unpersuaded by this claim. A review of the IJ's decision reveals that Charleswell designated the British Virgin Islands as the country for deportation, indicating that he was aware of the effect of the deportation order. Moreover, the IJ's deportation order states: IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that the Respondent [Charleswell] be deported from the United States to the British Virgin Islands under the charge and the order to show cause. App. at 56 (emphasis added). The IJ's decision is, therefore, unambiguous: Charleswell was ordered to be deported to the British Virgin Islands. There is no indication whatsoever that Charleswell was effectively precluded from appealing this clearly adverse decision. He was told he had the right to appeal and does not claim that he failed to understand that right. Furthermore, as the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit noted when it handled Charleswell's prior appeal, the immigration judge simply made a substantive error of law-albeit an egregious one-of precisely the sort that could have been corrected on appeal. App. at 46. Accordingly, because Charleswell is unable to demonstrate he was effectively denied the right to obtain judicial review from 1991 Deportation proceeding, he fails to satisfy the Mendoza-Lopez requirements and may not collaterally challenge the 1991 Deportation order.