HNBA Denounces Attorney General Mukasey's 'Last Minute' Decision to Strip Immigrants...

HNBA Denounces Attorney General Mukasey's 'Last Minute' Decision to Strip
Immigrants of the Right to Fair and Competent Counsel

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hispanic National Bar
Association (HNBA) condemns the Bush Administration's latest attempt to thwart
Constitutional protections provided to immigrants. In Matter of Compean, 24 I
& N Dec. 710 (A.G. 2009), Attorney General Michael Mukasey held that
immigrants do not have a constitutional right to effective counsel under the
Due Process Clause (or any other provision in the Constitution). The Attorney
General's decision declared that even immigrants who have been prejudiced by
their attorney's ineffective or fraudulent representation do not have the
right to have their cases reconsidered. The text of Matter of Compean is
available at http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol24/3632.pdf.

Immigration law is very complex -- a labyrinth that only a competent lawyer
can navigate. Immigrants regularly fall prey to illegal schemes and
ineffective representation by unscrupulous attorneys, non-attorneys, and
notarios. The courts ensure that the "standard of fairness" is met by
guaranteeing that immigrants have the opportunity to be represented by
competent and effective counsel. Judicial precedent has recognized that the
high stakes of a removal proceeding, coupled with the maze of immigration
rules and regulations, make evident the necessity of the right to counsel.

Now, Attorney General Mukasey has reversed the decades of Court precedent and
only a handful of cases "may" be considered under the grace of the Department
of Justice. "The decision of the Attorney General runs afoul to basic
principles of fairness and protection and condones fraudulent schemes and
their consequences against the most vulnerable group in our society," stated
Ramona E. Romero, the HNBA National President. According to Victor Nieblas,
Chair of the HNBA's Immigration Law Section, "Attorney General Mukasey's
decision green lights the unauthorized practice of law and continuing attacks
on immigrants by individuals motivated by greed. The Latino community, as
well as the entire immigrant community, will suffer greatly as a result."

The legal reasoning in Matter of Compean is wrong and the decision should be
overturned by President-Elect Barack Obama's administration. The HNBA will
continue to work with elected leaders and the judicial system to protect
access to justice and the fair administration of the law for all.

The Hispanic National Bar Association is an incorporated, not-for-profit,
national membership organization that represents the interests of the more
than 100,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law
students of Hispanic descent in the United States, its territories and Puerto
Rico. For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.

SOURCE Hispanic National Bar Association

M. Lucero Ortiz of HNBA, +1-202-223-4777, mlortiz@hnba.com