Opinion ID: 764472
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ineffective Assistance in the Context of Eligibility for Suspension of Deportation

Text: 39 Despite Mejia's arguments, the application of the limitations periods from 8 C.F.R. § 3.2(c)(2) to his motion to reopen did not result in a violation of Mejia's right to the effective assistance of counsel in his deportation proceedings. 40 Aliens enjoy the right to the effective assistance of counsel in deportation proceedings. Barthold v. INS, 517 F.2d 689, 690 (5th Cir.1975). Numerous courts have recognized that a deportation proceeding implicates an alien's liberty interest, which is protected by the Due Process Clause. See, e.g., Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135, 154, 65 S.Ct. 1443, 89 L.Ed. 2103 (1945); Kaoru Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86, 23 S.Ct. 611, 47 L.Ed. 721, (1903); Haitian Refugee Center v. Smith, 676 F.2d 1023, 1037 n. 30 (5th Cir.1982). Therefore, the Due Process Clause--not the Sixth Amendment--gives rise to the right to effective assistance of counsel in deportation proceedings. Id. Thus, to establish the ineffective assistance of counsel in the context of a deportation hearing, an alien must establish that his or her counsel's performance was deficient to the point that it impinged the fundamental fairness of the hearing. Id. at 691. Other circuits have concluded that to establish the lack of fundamental fairness in a deportation proceeding, the alien must establish deficient representation and prejudice or substantial prejudice arising from this deficient representation. See, e.g., Esposito v. INS, 987 F.2d 108, 110 (2d. Cir.1993); Mohsseni Behbahani v. INS, 796 F.2d 249, 251 (9th Cir.1986); Ogbemudia v. INS, 988 F.2d 595, 598 (5th Cir.1993) (requiring a showing of substantial prejudice). 41 However, the failure to receive relief that is purely discretionary in nature does not amount to a deprivation of a liberty interest. Connecticut Board of Pardons v. Dumschat, 452 U.S. 458, 465, 101 S.Ct. 2460, 69 L.Ed.2d 158 (1981). In Dumschat, the Supreme Court held that a state inmate does not enjoy a constitutionally protected liberty interest in having his or her sentence commuted, even where the state consistently commuted the sentences of inmates in most cases. Dumschat, 452 U.S. at 464-65, 101 S.Ct. 2460. The Court reasoned that a constitutional entitlement cannot 'be created--as if by estoppel--merely because a wholly and expressly discretionary state privilege has been granted generously in the past.'  Id. (quoting Leis v. Flynt, 439 U.S. 438, 444 n. 5, 99 S.Ct. 698, 58 L.Ed.2d 717 (1979)). Instead, according to the Court, [i]n terms of the Due Process Clause, a ... felon's expectation that a lawfully imposed sentence will be commuted or that he will be pardoned is no more substantial than an inmate's expectation, for example, that he will not be transferred to another prison; it is simply a unilateral hope. Dumschat, 452 U.S. at 465, 101 S.Ct. 2460. 42 This Court has applied Dumschat in the immigration context. Garcia-Mir v. Meese, 788 F.2d 1446 (11th Cir.1986). In Garcia-Mir, a group of Cuban aliens claimed a liberty interest in remaining paroled 7 into the United States while their immigration proceedings were pending. Id. at 1450-51. This Court acknowledged that actions by both Congress and the President had created a substantial expectation that the Cuban aliens would be allowed to remain on parole. Id. Nevertheless, as was the case in Dumschat, this Court in Garcia-Mir reasoned that, where a statute or regulation does not limit the executive's discretion to award relief, an expectancy of such relief does not give rise to a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause. Id. at 1452. Thus, relying on Dumschat, this Court concluded that the aliens did not enjoy a constitutionally protected liberty interest in parole, which remained a purely discretionary form of relief. Id. 43 Likewise, the Seventh and Tenth Circuits have applied Dumschat to conclude that aliens do not enjoy constitutionally protected interests in either the adjustment of immigration status or deferred action by the INS. In Achacoso-Sanchez v. INS, 779 F.2d 1260, 1265 (7th Cir.1985), the Seventh Circuit held that aliens did not enjoy a protectable liberty interest in the reopening of deportation proceedings or the adjustment of immigration status. The Seventh Circuit specifically noted that an adjustment of status constituted mercy and that [n]o one is entitled to mercy, and there are no standards by which judges may patrol its exercise. Id. Likewise, the Tenth Circuit has concluded that deferred action by the INS does not give rise to a constitutionally protected liberty interest because the INS has unfettered discretion to determine who is entitled to deferred action. Velasco-Gutierrez v. Crossland, 732 F.2d 792, 797 (10th Cir.1984). 44 Very similar to the type of relief at issue in Dumschat and Garcia-Mir, suspension of deportation is an act of grace committed to the unfettered discretion of the Attorney General. Jay v. Boyd, 351 U.S. 345, 354, 76 S.Ct. 919, 100 L.Ed. 1242 (1956) (quoting Escoe v. Zerbst, 295 U.S. 490, 492, 55 S.Ct. 818, 79 L.Ed. 1566, (1935)). As such, even if an alien meets the statutory requirements for eligibility for suspension of deportation, the alien is not in any way entitled to this exceptional remedy. Id.; INS v. Jong Ha Wang, 450 U.S. 139, 145, 101 S.Ct. 1027, 67 L.Ed.2d 123 (1981); Saiyid v. INS, 132 F.3d 1380, 1384 (11th Cir.1998); see also Gomez-Gomez v. INS, 681 F.2d 1347 (11th Cir.1982) (reasoning that the Attorney General has the discretion to interpret narrowly the requirement of extreme hardship). In this sense, suspension of deportation is similar to an executive pardon. Jay, 351 U.S. at 355 n. 16, 76 S.Ct. 919. Indeed, the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the analogy between suspension of deportation and an executive pardon by stating: 45 We have described the Attorney General's suspension of deportation under a related and similarly phrased provision of the INA as  'an act of grace'  which is accorded pursuant to her unfettered discretion and have quoted approvingly Judge Learned Hand's likening of that provision to  'a judge's power to suspend the execution of a sentence, or the President's to pardon a convict.'  46 INS v. Yueh-Shaio Yang, 519 U.S. 26, 29, 117 S.Ct. 350, 136 L.Ed.2d 288 (1996) (citations omitted). 47 Accordingly, an attorney's deficient representation does not deprive an alien of due process if the deficient representation merely prevents the alien from being eligible for suspension of deportation. An alien's actual chances of receiving such discretionary relief are too speculative, and too far beyond the capability of judicial review, to conclude that the alien has actually suffered prejudice from being ineligible for suspension of deportation. Just as a convicted felon enjoys no constitutional right to a pardon and aliens have no due process rights to being paroled, an alien has no constitutional right to suspension of deportation. Just as a court cannot review the inherently subjective judgments made by the executive in deciding whether to commute a life sentence, this Court cannot predict the subjective and fact-intensive judgments that the Attorney General would make in deciding whether to grant extraordinary relief, such as the suspension of deportation. Dumschat, 452 U.S. at 464, 101 S.Ct. 2460. Accordingly, we cannot hold that being ineligible for suspension of deportation as a consequence of deficient representation constitutes a violation of due process. In other words, an alien has not been deprived of fundamental fairness simply by being ineligible for a purely discretionary act of grace like suspension of deportation. The alien cannot demonstrate prejudice, much less substantial prejudice, arising from the ineligibility for such an act of grace because no standards exist for a court to determine whether the executive would have granted the extraordinary relief anyway. 8 48 In this case, assuming Mejia's representation during his initial deportation proceedings was deficient, this deficient representation did not deprive Mejia of the due process. The only consequence of his counsel's deficient representation that Mejia alleges is that he is ineligible for suspension. As mentioned above, Mejia does not, and cannot, establish that, but for his counsel's deficient representation, he would not have been ordered deported. Moreover, Mejia has not even made a strong showing that he would have been able to demonstrate an extreme hardship arising from his return to Honduras. Therefore, Mejia has not demonstrated that the alleged ineffectiveness of his counsel caused any actual prejudice or substantial prejudice, because Mejia has not, and could not, argue that he would have received the extraordinary relief of suspension were it not for his counsel's deficient performance. 9 49 Because Mejia's petition for review does not allege any constitutional infirmity arising from the BIA's denial of his motion to reopen, the BIA did not err in denying Mejia's motion as untimely.