United States v. Elizabeth Rodriguez-Vega

Elizabeth Rodriguez-Vega appeals the magistrate judge’s denial of her 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition to vacate her conviction of misdemeanor Attempted Transportation of Illegal Aliens in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(2)(A). She asserts that she was deprived of effective assistance of counsel because her attorney failed to advise her that her plea agreement rendered her removal a virtual certainty, and that the court erred in dismissing her petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to conduct an evi-dentiary hearing, but that it did err in failing to hold that under the controlling law Rodriguez-Vega’s counsel’s assistance was ineffective. Accordingly, we order the conviction vacated.

I.

Rodriguez-Vega was born in Mexico in 1989. She came to the United States with her family when she was twelve years old, and became a lawful permanent resident the following year. In 2012, she was arraigned on an Information charging her with felony Attempted Transportation of Illegal Aliens and Aiding and Abetting in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(l)(A)(ii) and (v)(II).

Rodriguez-Vega’s attorney initially…