Immigration – removal — unreliable hearsay

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Immigration – removal — unreliable hearsay

Where a removal decision was based entirely on unreliable hearsay, the removal order must be vacated.

“We have not found, and the parties have not cited, any examples of a court affirming the admission of an I-213 under circumstances like these. Basing a removal decision on such a document when neither the author nor the interviewee is available for cross-examination seriously erodes the fairness of the proceeding. Cf. Rosendo-Ramirez, 32 F.3d at 1088 (I-213 admissible despite petitioner’s objections that information it contained was obtained from others in group interview where petitioner could have made the statements himself and presented no evidence that he did not, and where recording officer was present for cross-examination at the hearing). This I-213 therefore was not inherently reliable because it was recorded seven years late, its critical information was obtained from someone other than the subject of the form, and it contradicts the other written account of its source.”

Petition Granted.

12-1665 Pouhova v. Holder

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