Faustino Rafael Murgia-Melendrez v. United States Immigration and Naturalization Service

Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, was convicted on April 25, 1967, in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of San Diego, of possession of marijuana, a violation of § 11530 of the Health and Safety Code of that State. He was then nineteen years old. On June 26, 1967, a deportation hearing was convened. Appellant attended unrepresented by counsel and was found deportable, because of his conviction, under section 241(a) (11) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a) (11).

Petitioner, through counsel, challenged the decision in the Board of Immigration Appeals which, pointing out that remanding the case would be fruitless since no discretionary relief was available to petitioner, dismissed the appeal. Petitioner seeks review in this court under 8 U.S.C. § 1105 .

The challenge to the Board’s decision is purely procedural; petitioner makes no exception to the state conviction or its consequences. Two assignments of error are summarized from petitioner’s analysis of the original proceedings: (1) That 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (b) (2), which requires an alien to obtain counsel at his own expense, violates petitioner’s Sixth Amendment…