Luis Alberto Gonzalez-Julio v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Opinion
Opinion
Tang, J.
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) summarily dismissed petitioner Luis Alberto Gonzalez-Julio’s appeal of an Immigration Judge’s deportation order on the basis that the appeal was untimely filed. Gonzalez-Julio petitions for review of the dismissal, joined by amicus curiae American Immigration Lawyers Association, Hawaii Chapter, claiming that the regulations for filing notices of appeal violated Gonzalez-Julio’s due process rights. We agree and grant the petition.
BACKGROUND
Gonzalez-Julio, a citizen of Bolivia, entered the United States in 1983 as a lawful permanent resident alien. In 1986, he was convicted in the State of Hawaii of promoting a dangerous drug and sentenced to 20 years incarceration. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began deportation proceedings on August 10, 1988, charging Gonzalez-Julio with deportability as an alien who had been convicted of a controlled substance violation under § 241(a)(ll) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a)(ll).
At a March 24, 1989 hearing in Honolulu before an Immigration Judge, Gonzalez-Julio challenged deportability on the basis that he had suffered prejudice from the delay in initiating…