New Attorney General Holder vows to reexamine Mukasey Opinion regarding Lozada
For the last 20 years, aliens in removal proceedings have had the right to effective assistance of counsel. This right allowed an alien to have his case reopened if his previous attorney performed ineffectively. The case Matter of Lozada provided the right to effective assistance of counsel based on the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Since 1988, Matter of Lozada has provided a means by which aliens could reopen their case and fight an outstanding deportation order. That was until Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s last weeks in office.
On January 9, 2009, Attorney General Mukasey issued an opinion overruling Matter of Lozada and other pro-immigrant decisions. The Attorney General opinion is essentially a mandate to all immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals on how to interpret the immigration laws. AG Mukasey declared that aliens in deportation proceedings do not have a right to government-appointed attorneys, and the due process clause’s guarantee of effective assistance of counsel only applies to state actors as opposed to private attorneys.
On Monday, the new Attorney General, Eric Holder, vowed to reexamine the Mukasey decision.
Mr. Holder’s decision on how to treat Matter of Lozada is extremely important. Matter of Lozada is oftentimes an alien’s last chance to avoid deportation. Far too often immigration attorneys make crucial errors while representing their clients; Matter of Lozada gives the alien respondent a chance to reopen the case to fix the errors made by the previous attorney.
If you have been ordered deported, call The Nunez Firm today to discuss whether you might have a chance to reopen your case. 949-903-0088
Immigration News & Events, National Immigration Law, Uncategorized
It should be interesting to see the result on this. It could signal a huge difference in Holder’s approach to interpretation of due process from what we have seen for the past several years.