Illegal reentry — collateral attacks

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Illegal reentry — collateral attacks

Even if a defendant charged with illegal reentry did not have an attorney when he was removed, he cannot collaterally attack his removal order as fundamentally unfair.

“8 C.F.R. § 1003.25(b) contains no requirement that an alien must be represented by counsel or that a stipulated removal order must be orally explained to him. Instead, the statute merely requires the IJ to ‘determine that the alien’s waiver is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent’ if the alien is unrepresented by counsel. The IJ did so here, stating, ‘I find, based upon my review of the record in this matter, that [Baptist] has entered into this stipulation voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently.’”

“Baptist bore the burden of showing that his 1998 removal was fundamentally unfair, but he failed to put forth enough evidence to convince us that the stipulated removal order he signed was invalid. Therefore, we find no due process violation.”

Affirmed.

14-1273 U.S. v. Baptist

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Zagel, J., Bauer, J.