Eleuterio Benitez-Mendez v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Petitioner Benitez-Mendez seeks review of a decision of an immigration judge, affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals, finding petitioner deportable under 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a)(2) for entry without inspection. This court has jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a).

Petitioner was arrested by Border Patrol officers on April 13, 1981, while he was standing in a hop field near Granger, Washington. He had been working the field with a' group of workers who fled when three marked Border Patrol vehicles approached the field. Petitioner did not run but remained standing in the field. A Bor der Patrol officer approached and questioned petitioner, who told the officer that he had papers in his car which showed his legal alien status. Petitioner was then detained in a Border Patrol vehicle while the officers examined his papers.

After the officers determined that the papers did not establish that petitioner was legally in the country, petitioner was arrested and taken to the Border Patrol office. At the office, he told the arresting officer that he was born in Mexico and that he had entered the United States near San Ysidro without an immigration inspection. The arresting officer wrote…