Immigration — readmission

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Immigration — readmission

Even if a deportable alien was not allowed legal entry into a foreign country, he nevertheless left the United States, and cannot be readmitted under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9).

“The Board ruled that Margulis ‘was not an arriving alien because he was never lawfully admitted to another country, and therefore never effected a departure from the United States.’ The ‘therefore’ is hard to fathom. Suppose Margulis had made a secret trip to another country to visit a dying relative, and he had made the trip in secret because he was persona non grata in that country. Suppose he remained there for six months, until the relative died, and then returned to the United States. The Board apparently would say that he had ‘never effected a departure from the United States.’ That sounds absurd. And the ‘therefore’ contradicts a regulation of the Department of Homeland Security that states that ‘the term depart from the United States means depart by land, water, or air: (1) From the United States for any foreign place.’ 8 C.F.R. § 215.1(h). That’s an exact description of what Margulis did. Even if he didn’t enter Canada, he departed ‘from the United States for … [a] foreign place,’ just as a person who boards a plane in Chicago for a flight to Ulan Bator would say that he was departing from the United States for Ulan Bator.”

Petition Granted.

12-3611 Margulis v. Holder

Petition to Review Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Posner, J.