Opinion ID: 205768
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Speculative Prejudice

Text: Even were we to assume arguendo that Villanueva-Diaz's attorney's failure to notify him of the BIA's decision could support a claim of lack of fundamental fairness, Villanueva-Diaz cannot establish prejudice. He concedes that he would have to show deficient conduct on the part of his counsel as well as prejudice. To show prejudice in this context, Villanueva-Diaz would have had to demonstrate that there is a reasonable likelihood that but for the errors complained of [he] would not have been deported. United States v. Benitez-Villafuerte, 186 F.3d 651, 658 (5th Cir.1999). While we agree that Dunne should have told him of the BIA decision and his option to petition this court for review, we note that what would have happened next is an exceedingly speculative inquiry under the timeline here. At the time the BIA decision came down, our jurisprudence was clear that Villanueva-Diaz's DWI conviction was an aggravated felony. Thus, in this same hypothetical conversation that Dunne should have had with Villanueva-Diaz about the BIA's decision, he would also have had to inform Villanueva-Diaz that Fifth Circuit precedent was squarely against him. It is sheer speculation to say that Villanueva-Diaz would then have proceeded on, perhaps pro se from his prison cell, and would have been Chapa-Garza as his current counsel contended at oral argument. Thus, while we now have the benefit of hindsight, judged at the time of the BIA decision, Villanueva-Diaz's case was wholly foreclosed, and his attorney's advice not to file an appeal would not have been a wholesale deprivation of due process. We understand the district judge's consternation that this seems inequitable given the benefit of hindsight. Our review over immigration decisions is not as a court of equity. Nor is that our role in a criminal appeal seeking to collaterally attack an immigration decision. As a three-time DWI offender who unlawfully reentered the United States rather than applying for readmission, Villanueva-Diaz is not altogether an innocent bystander to his problems. In any event, the result reached is what the law requires. For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM.