01-2351 Dimenski v. INS

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“Any other position would have astonishing sweep. Think for a moment of tax law. There are endless forms to fill out, and each decision about how to classify a transaction may have substantial effects, yet attempting to fit the Internal Revenue Code (and the implementing regulations) onto the forms would be an absurd project. In immigration law, as in tax law–and criminal law, too, where knowledge of the law is presumed, cf. United States v. Carlos-Colmenares, 253 F.3d 276 (7th Cir. 2001) (an alien’s reasonable, but mistaken, belief that he was entitled to reenter the United States is no defense to prosecution)–the Constitution permits the government to leave people to their own research. Although the ninth circuit’s approach in Navarro-Aispura is well-meaning, it accomplishes little. Suppose the form had told Dimenski that he would be placed into exclusion proceedings on his return. Just what good would that have done him? How many aliens know the different legal consequences of deportation versus exclusion? To learn these, an alien must consult counsel; and if Dimenski had done this in 1993, he would have learned about Leng May Ma and sec.245.2(a)(4)(ii) (more likely, about their legal effects) no matter what the form had included or omitted. These days, with all aliens subjected to unified removal proceedings, even the advice that the ninth circuit contemplated would be pointless. Perhaps the INS should print on every form in conspicuous type something like ‘Consult a lawyer before you file this!’, but neither the statute nor the Constitution requires such advice.”

Affirmed.

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Easterbrook, J.