Esperanza Burgos-Abril v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Esperanza Burgos, a native and citizen of Colombia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order finding Burgos deportable and denying her request for a waiver of deportation pursuant to section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (c). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), and we deny the petition for review.

On petition for review, Burgos raises an issue of first impression. Specifically, Burgos alleges that by holding her deportation hearing inside a federal correctional facility, the IJ tainted the proceedings and violated her right to due process. We disagree.

We review de novo whether deportation proceedings infringed upon an alien’s due process rights. Gonzalez-Julio v. INS, 34 F.3d 820, 828 (9th Cir.1994).

An alien has a Fifth Amendment right to due process, including the right to a full and fair hearing in a deportation proceeding. See Cuadras v. INS, 910 F.2d 567, 573 (9th Cir.1990). In general, however, an alien “has been denied a full and fair hearing which due process provides only if the thing complained of causes the alien to suffer some…