Alien Received Process Due, Even Where Lawyer Was Ineffective

US v. Guzman-Velasquez: Guzman-Velasquez is a citizen of El Salvador. In 1998, he was ordered to voluntarily depart from the United States, an order converted to a removal order when he did not comply. Afterward, the Attorney General designated El Salvador for “Temporary Protected Status” due to devastation from recent earthquakes. Guzman-Velasquez got counsel and, via counsel, submitted a request to remain in the United States under the TPS. Some of the documentation necessary to the application was not included, although INS already had that documentation in its possession. As a result, Guzman-Velasquez’s request was denied and he was deported in 2007. In 2016, he was charged with illegal reentry. Guzman-Velasquez sought to collaterally attack the 2007 deportation order. All the parties agreed that he was eligible for the TPS designation, but the district court held that current law only allowed for collateral challenges to removal orders, not TPS denials.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed, although on a different basis. The court concluded that Guzman-Velasquez could make a collateral challenge to his TPS denial because he was not seeking relief from removal, but to challenge an element of a criminal charge. Nonetheless, the court also concluded that there was no due process violation that would support such a collateral challenge. In short, all due process required for Guzman-Velasquez was for immigration officials to review his TPS application and the materials attached to it. There was no requirement that