Angelina Miguel v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

359 F.3d 408, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3626, 2004 WL 354201
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 26, 2004
Docket02-3758
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 359 F.3d 408 (Angelina Miguel v. Immigration and Naturalization Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Angelina Miguel v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 359 F.3d 408, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3626, 2004 WL 354201 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

*409 OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

Angelina Miguel is a native and citizen of Guatemala who was discovered by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents after a warrantless entry into her home. Miguel claims that the evidence obtained during the search of her house should have been suppressed because the search violated the Fourth Amendment. The Immigration Judge, relying solely on the admissions of Miguel’s counsel during a hearing, decided that Miguel should be removed regardless of any potential Fourth Amendment violations. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the decision of the Immigration Judge. Miguel appeals the denial of her motion to suppress. Because Miguel’s counsel admitted the relevant facts establishing her remova-bility, and because the Immigration Judge did not rely on any of the evidence that Miguel has asked to be suppressed, this court does not need to reach the potential application of the exclusionary rule to the entry and seizure of evidence from her home in possible violation of the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, we deny Miguel’s petition for review.

Angelina Miguel is a 25-year-old native and citizen of Guatemala. Miguel apparently entered the United States “without being admitted or paroled” in 1996 near San Ysidro, California.

According to Miguel’s statement, on or about the morning of July 7, 1999, Miguel was at her residence in New Philadelphia, Ohio, with another woman and three children whom they were babysitting. Miguel was allegedly upstairs in a bathroom, when Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) agents knocked at the door. One of the children apparently answered the door and let in the three agents, who were soon joined by two more agents.

Miguel came downstairs, and the agents announced they were looking for a person named Maria Garza. Miguel then retreated upstairs to a bedroom, but the INS agents soon knocked on the bedroom door. The agents came into the bedroom and began to question Miguel about her immigration status. 1 Apparently believing she had an obligation to answer, Miguel told the agents that she did not have any “papers from the United States” but that she had a birth certifícate from Guatemala.

As Miguel retrieved her birth certifícate from an envelope in her backpack, an agent allegedly snatched the entire envelope from her hands. The envelope also contained other documents relating to her fiancé and daughter. Miguel was at that time given a Notice to Appear (“NTA”) before the Immigration Court.

On October 24, 2000, Miguel filed a motion to suppress all evidence derived from the entry and search of her home. The motion alleged that the INS agents entered her private residence without a valid warrant and failed to advise her of her constitutional rights. On November 8, 2000, the Immigration Judge (the “IJ”) in the removal proceeding indicated that an evidentiary hearing should be held on the motion to suppress. On the date set for the evidentiary hearing, Miguel was late. The IJ denied the motion to suppress because Miguel had abandoned it by “her failure to appear” and also because the affidavits did not support a finding of egregious conduct. After Miguel arrived, the IJ did not revisit the issue. The IJ then asked Miguel some standard preliminary *410 questions. In response, Miguel’s counsel admitted the factual allegations contained in the NTA. Specifically, Miguel’s counsel admitted that Miguel was not a citizen of the United States, that she was a native and citizen of Guatemala who entered the United States at an unknown time and place, and that she was not admitted or paroled after inspection by an Immigration Officer. The IJ thereupon sustained the charge of removal and set a hearing date to consider any relief from removal that Miguel sought to pursue. On August 10, 2001, the day of the next hearing, Miguel’s counsel stated that Miguel did not qualify for any form of relief. At that hearing, the IJ also indicated that she had denied the motion to suppress during the last hearing. Later that day, the IJ issued a ruling ordering the removal of Miguel to Guatemala.

On Miguel’s timely appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) issued a two-sentence decision affirming the IJ’s decision. Miguel petitions this court for review, claiming that the IJ acted arbitrarily and capriciously when she did not hold an evidentiary hearing on Miguel’s motion to suppress and that the INS agents acted so egregiously when they entered her home without a warrant as to require the suppression of the evidence gained during that entry.

The decision of the IJ was proper because Miguel admitted that she was an alien, that she was not legally admitted into the United States, and that she has no basis for any form of relief. An evidentia-ry hearing as to the possible egregious nature of the agents’ entry into Miguel’s home would therefore have been irrelevant.

Miguel admitted before the IJ that she is a removable alien, and, regardless of whether the evidence at her home should be suppressed, these admissions establish her removability. See 8 C.F.R. § 240.10(c) (2000) 2 (“The immigration judge shall require the respondent to plead to the notice to appear by stating whether he or she admits or denies the factual allegations and his or her removability under the charges contained therein. If the respondent admits the factual allegations and admits his or her removability under the charges and the immigration judge is satisfied that no issues of law or fact remain, the immigration judge may determine that removability as charged has been established by the admissions of the respondent.” (emphasis added)); 8 U.S.C. § 1361 (“In any removal proceeding ... the burden of proof shall be upon [the alien] to show the time, place, and manner of his entry into the United States.... If such burden of proof is not sustained, such person shall be presumed to be in the United States in violation of law.”); see also INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 1039, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984) (“In many deportation cases the INS must show only identity and alienage; the burden then shifts to the respondent to prove the time, place, and manner of his entry.”).

During a hearing, the IJ specifically asked Miguel, through an interpreter, how she answered the factual allegations contained in the NTA. The NTA indicated that she is not a citizen or national of the United States; that she is a native and citizen of Guatemala; and that she was not admitted or paroled into the United States. Miguel then admitted these factual allegations through counsel. The admissions have not been challenged on appeal.

After Miguel’s alienage was established by her admission and was not contradicted by any additional evidence in the record, *411

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Bluebook (online)
359 F.3d 408, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3626, 2004 WL 354201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/angelina-miguel-v-immigration-and-naturalization-service-ca6-2004.