Cuevas-Ortega v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, CUEVAS-ORTEGA and J
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | Before WRIGHT and CHOY; CHOY |
| Citation | 588 F.2d 1274 |
| Parties | Rafaelosephina Del Toro-Mendoza, Petitioners, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent. |
| Docket Number | No. 77-1630,CUEVAS-ORTEGA and J |
| Decision Date | 02 January 1979 |
Page 1274
v.
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent.
Ninth Circuit.
Page 1275
Bill Ong Hing, San Francisco, Cal., for petitioners.
Lawrence W. Chamblee, Lauren S. Kahn, Washington, D. C., for respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Before WRIGHT and CHOY, Circuit Judges, and SWEIGERT *, District Judge.
CHOY, Circuit Judge:
Petitioners Rafael Cuevas-Ortega and Josephina Del Toro-Mendoza appeal an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the Board) affirming a finding of deportability and denial of voluntary departure. We affirm.
In May, 1976, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), in cooperation with the San Mateo County District Attorney, was conducting an investigation of possible
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fraudulent home birth registrations by resident aliens. 1 During the course of this investigation it was discovered that three home birth registrations listed the address of the same apartment complex, and that two of these listed "Jose Cervantes" as father but at different addresses within the complex.In following up this coincidence at petitioners' apartment complex, INS investigator Cornejo and an inspector from the District Attorney's office encountered approximately fifteen to twenty persons, each of whom was an illegal alien from Apatzingan, a town in the state of Michoacan, Mexico. It was at this point that the two investigators spoke with an apartment dweller who had signed one of the "Jose Cervantes" certificates as a witness. She stated that she thought the certificates were from two different families, and that the people who lived in petitioners' apartment were related to the Cervantes family whose certificate she hadn't signed.
The two investigators then went to petitioners' apartment where Del Toro answered their knock. After they identified themselves, Cornejo asked Del Toro whether she knew the family listed on the suspect certificate. She replied that she did not know too much about them, but that she knew the neighbor who had directed the investigators to her apartment. Cornejo then asked Del Toro whether she was from Michoacan and she replied "Yes"; and when he asked her if she was in the United States illegally she also answered "Yes."
After permitting the investigators inside the apartment, Del Toro admitted in response to questions that her husband and five of their six children were also illegal aliens. Cornejo instructed Del Toro to come to the INS office with her husband and identification documents.
Petitioners went to the INS office at the appointed time on May 4, 1976, and told Cornejo that petitioner Cuevas had entered the United States surreptitiously in June, 1973, and that Cuevas then had Del Toro and their five children smuggled into the United States from Mexico in September, 1974. These admissions were contemporaneously recorded on two I-213 forms (Record of Deportable Alien).
At their deportation hearing, petitioners refused to testify on advice of counsel. The I-213 forms were introduced, over the objection of petitioners' attorney, to establish deportability. The immigration judge rejected the claim that the statements on the I-213 forms were the "fruits" of an illegal search and seizure at the initial apartment meeting. He ruled that it was therefore "immaterial what happened before that," and denied petitioners' motion for a continuance to produce the neighbor as a witness and prohibited further questioning of Cornejo concerning the investigation in the neighborhood. Petitioners were found deportable as charged. The immigration judge also denied their request for voluntary departure, noting that they had used a smuggler to bring in Del Toro and their five children, and that Cuevas had been arrested and fined for drunk driving after his illegal entry.
The Board found that the statements on the I-213 forms were "not unlawfully obtained" and held that the denial of voluntary departure was a proper exercise of discretion, and petitioners appeal.
Petitioners first argue that the initial questioning of Del Toro violated their fourth amendment rights. 2 We disagree. The two investigators neither searched nor seized anything or anyone.
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They merely knocked on petitioners' door to ask whoever answered for information about home birth registrations. Del Toro answered the door and, after the investigators identified themselves, spoke with them over the threshold. During the conversation and subsequently, she freely admitted that she, her husband and five of their children were illegal aliens. Del Toro was under no constraint to invite or allow the investigators into the apartment. There was no arrest, custody or curtailment of liberty. 3 Cordon de Ruano v. INS,554 F.2d 944, 946 (9th Cir. 1977). As stated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the fourth...To continue reading
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In re Detention of Strand, No. 80570-9.
...must comply with the due process guaranty of fundamental fairness. See, e.g., Cuevas-Ortega v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 588 F.2d 1274, 1277 (9th Cir.1979); supra p. 1165. However, the civil nature of such hearings renders the voluntariness inquiry "markedly different from that in......
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Illinois Migrant Council v. Pilliod, No. 74 C 3111
...Ohio, 392 U.S. at 16, 88 S.Ct. at 1877, then no "seizure" occurs, and the fourth amendment cannot be violated. See Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274, 1276-77 (9th Cir. 1979); Shu Fuk Cheung v. INS, 476 F.2d 1180, 1181-82 (8th Cir. 1973); Cheung Tin Wong v. INS, 468 F.2d 1123, 1126-27 (D.C......
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International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, AFL CIO v. Sureck, AFL-CIO
...from Terry v. Ohio, supra; United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274 (9th Cir. 1979); and Cordon de Ruano v. INS, 554 F.2d 944 (9th Cir. 1977). The INS argues that the test for a seizure is one requiring an analysis......
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U.S. v. Jerez, Nos. 95-1549
...v. Winsor, 846 F.2d 1569, 1573 (9th Cir.1988) (en banc); United States v. Roberts, 747 F.2d 537 (9th Cir.1984); Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274 (9th Cir.1979). In those cases, the occupants voluntarily opened the door after a daytime knock. These cases, like Davis, simply hold that a vo......
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In re Detention of Strand, No. 80570-9.
...must comply with the due process guaranty of fundamental fairness. See, e.g., Cuevas-Ortega v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 588 F.2d 1274, 1277 (9th Cir.1979); supra p. 1165. However, the civil nature of such hearings renders the voluntariness inquiry "markedly different from that in......
-
Illinois Migrant Council v. Pilliod, No. 74 C 3111
...Ohio, 392 U.S. at 16, 88 S.Ct. at 1877, then no "seizure" occurs, and the fourth amendment cannot be violated. See Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274, 1276-77 (9th Cir. 1979); Shu Fuk Cheung v. INS, 476 F.2d 1180, 1181-82 (8th Cir. 1973); Cheung Tin Wong v. INS, 468 F.2d 1123, 1126-27 (D.C......
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International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, AFL CIO v. Sureck, AFL-CIO
...from Terry v. Ohio, supra; United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274 (9th Cir. 1979); and Cordon de Ruano v. INS, 554 F.2d 944 (9th Cir. 1977). The INS argues that the test for a seizure is one requiring an analysis......
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U.S. v. Jerez, Nos. 95-1549
...v. Winsor, 846 F.2d 1569, 1573 (9th Cir.1988) (en banc); United States v. Roberts, 747 F.2d 537 (9th Cir.1984); Cuevas-Ortega v. INS, 588 F.2d 1274 (9th Cir.1979). In those cases, the occupants voluntarily opened the door after a daytime knock. These cases, like Davis, simply hold that a vo......