United States v. Porras-Avila

383 F. Supp. 3d 707
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedApril 16, 2019
DocketCriminal Action No. 4:19-CR-010-1
StatusPublished

This text of 383 F. Supp. 3d 707 (United States v. Porras-Avila) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Porras-Avila, 383 F. Supp. 3d 707 (S.D. Tex. 2019).

Opinion

Andrew S. Hanen, United States District Judge *708Juan Angel Porras-Avila ("Porras-Avila" or "Defendant") is charged with illegal reentry into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(1). He seeks to have his indictment dismissed because the Notice to Appear ("NTA") in his underlying deportation did not specify an exact time and location at which to appear. Despite having attended the hearing in question, Porras-Avila claims that this omission voids not only his initial 2006 deportation, but all of his subsequent removals. Consequently, he claims this flaw in his underlying immigration proceedings deals a fatal blow to the Government's current attempts to prosecute him for illegal reentry.

I. Background Facts

Porras-Avila, a citizen of Mexico, apparently entered the United States at least by 1999 as he was convicted of a misdemeanor Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) and sentenced to 30 days in custody in Hidalgo County, Texas in June of that year. State of Texas v. Juan Angel Porras , No. CR-164783-B, County Court of Law No. Two, Hidalgo County, Texas. He was again convicted of a DWI in 2002 and sentenced to 180 days in custody under the name of David Guerrero, Jr. State of Texas v. David Guerrero, Jr. , No. CR-203939-A, County Court of Law No. One, Hidalgo County, Texas. After this second DWI he was arrested for a third DWI in 2005. This conviction was a felony. He was sentenced to two years in custody. State of Texas v. Juan Angel Avila Porras , No. CR-0087-06-F, 398th Judicial District Court, Hidalgo County, Texas. After being released, he was formally deported through the Brownsville Port of Entry. It was this deportation that is the basis for the Motion to Dismiss, and it will be discussed in more detail below. He was deported on November 2, 2006 and returned illegally on November 10, 2006. He was then arrested on a fourth DWI charge in 2008. Sometime after that fourth DWI arrest, but before those charges were resolved, he was charged with illegal reentry and given 75 days in custody. United States v. Juan Angel Porras-Avila , No. 7:08-po-01790 (S.D. Tex. 2008). He was then deported on June 3, 2008 through the Presidio Port of Entry. He returned illegally on October 29, 2008, was again convicted of illegal reentry, and was sentenced to 100 days in custody. United States v. Juan Angel Porras-Avila , No. 7:08-po-06766 (S.D. Tex. 2008). He was deported on February 14, 2009 through the Hidalgo Port of Entry. He then returned to the United States, but the time and place of that return is not clear from the record. Nevertheless, it is clear that on April 30, 2013 he was actually convicted of the 2008 DWI, his second felony DWI, and was sentenced to two years in custody. State of Texas v. Juan Angela Avila Porras , No. CR-3575-08-F, 332nd Judicial District Court, Hidalgo County, Texas. This led to his return to immigration custody and another deportation in August of 2014 through the Laredo Port of Entry.

The record before this Court does not show how or when he returned to the United States after the 2014 deportation. Nevertheless, in 2017 he was once again in the United States and once again was convicted of a DWI-his third felony DWI-and was sentenced on January 31, 2017 to five years imprisonment. State of Texas v. Juan Angel Avila Porras , No. CR-0207-17-F, 332nd District Court, Hidalgo County, Texas. It is this arrest and imprisonment that concluded with his being turned over to federal authorities for prosecution in this case.

*709II. Basis for the Dismissal Motion

As stated earlier, Porras-Avila's 2006 deportation is the subject matter of this motion. Porras-Avila was in the custody of immigration officials in 2006. It is unclear if he came into custody by virtue of his 2005 arrest for DWI or by some other means. Regardless, on August 23, 2006 he was served with his NTA. Importantly, that notice had the following as to the date and time of the hearing:

The NTA was personally served on the Defendant on October 9, 2006. He waived his 10-day notice period and requested a prompt hearing. He attended the hearing and, based upon his own admissions, he was found to be removable. He voluntarily waived his appeal and was ultimately deported on November 2, 2006 based upon the order of the immigration judge. He was subsequently deported on March 20, 2008; October, 29, 2008; February 5, 2009; and August 5, 2014-all based upon a reinstatement of this 2006 deportation order.

Porras-Avila claims that all his deportations (except for the original one) relate back to or are reinstatements of his 2006 removal and that his original 2006 deportation order was defective due to the lack of a designated date and time on the NTA. He claims that because of this defective notice, the immigration court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and thus his 2006 deportation and all subsequent deportations were invalid and void. Consequently, he argues that there is no valid removal on which to base an illegal reentry indictment.

The United States ("Government") argues that these claims distort the two Supreme Court cases upon which the Defendant relies and that not only was Porras-Avila eventually informed of the date, time, and location of his hearing, but it is beyond dispute that he attended and participated. As a result, the Government contends that whatever ambiguities or defects may have existed in the original notice were cured by subsequent actual notice and that the immigration judge had jurisdiction when Defendant was ordered deported. Further, the Government argues that the motion to dismiss the indictment is an impermissible collateral attack on the order of removal and as such is contrary to 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d).

Both sides cite multiple court decisions which support their respective positions. Consequently, this Court has a number of different opinions from which to seek guidance. (See Appendix "A" for a list of opinions which support the position of the Defendant and Appendix "B" for a list of opinions supporting the Government's position.)

III. Discussion

A. Supreme Court Authority

While this Court has reviewed quite a number of opinions from a wide variety of different jurisdictions and now has authored three of its own, the obvious starting point remains the two Supreme Court cases underlying the Defendant's position:

*710Pereira v. Sessions , --- U.S. ----, 138 S. Ct. 2105, 201 L.Ed.2d 433 (2018) and United States v. Mendoza-Lopez ,

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Bluebook (online)
383 F. Supp. 3d 707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-porras-avila-txsd-2019.