NBC News
By Neil Giardino
June 15, 2015
Navigating the complexities of U.S. immigration law can be a bewildering experience, especially for those without legal training. With the threat of deportation often looming, the trust an undocumented immigrant places in his or her attorney is tantamount to the relationship between doctor and sick patient.
But what recourse do immigrants have when they're denied the chance to defend themselves in court because of a mishandled case? The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue this month.
“An attorney can actually cover up his malpractice, and the client doesn’t have any relief,” said attorney Raed Gonzalez, who is representing Noel Reyes Mata in his case before the high court. Legal experts say a ruling Mata's favor could bolster due process rights for vulnerable immigrants nationally.
Gonzalez, a partner in Houston immigration law firm Gonzalez Olivieri LLC, said immigrants seeking to reopen their deportation proceedings can often be unaware of their lawyers' legal missteps for months or even years.
"There are a lot of joker attorneys out there,” he said.
Calls to the Justice Department for comment on the case weren't returned.
The backstory: In 2010, Mata, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting his girlfriend, and deportation proceedings were swiftly begun.
He petitioned to halt them through the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), an appeals court within the Justice Department. But his lawyers at the time blundered by not filing the proper appeals documents to the court, Gonzalez said, and Mata's appeal was thrown out.
After he had hired new lawyers, Mata asked that his case be reopened, saying he hadn't been made aware of his former attorney’s clerical error until after the 90-day filing deadline had passed.
The BIA dismissed his appeal, and Mata then asked a federal appeals court to contest the BIA's judgment, saying his lawyer’s failure to file necessary paperwork had denied him of his legal rights. The Fifth Circuit’s response: We can't overturn a BIA ruling.
But Mata's lawyers asked the Supreme Court take the case on, and the justices agreed.
Now, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not a federal appeals court can delay a deadline for a non-citizen seeking to reopen a deportation case based on ineffective legal counsel.
New York-based immigration attorney Kerry Bretz of Bretz and Coven LLP said a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Mata would make sense. “If a non-citizen establishes that his lawyer messed up and the results could have been different, the case should be reopened,” he said in an email.
“The BIA has a habit of applying its opinion (often not favorable to non-citizens) in all the circuit courts that have not addressed a particular issue. That is the case here," Bretz added. "Sadly, the Fifth Circuit failed to do the right thing."
Mata's lawyer Gonzalez is optimistic about his client's prospects before the Supreme Court, and about what the case could mean for other immigrants.
“We are really excited about the case, because it will set a precedent all over the nation to help individuals by giving them a fair chance to reopen their cases in court based on malpractice," he said.
"Due process will prevail."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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