Dung Huu BUI, Petitioner, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent

Opinion by Judge Beezer

We are called upon to decide whether the Immigration and Naturalization Service may deny an alien his opportunity to designate a country of deportation and then hold this error harmless, predicting that the country he would have designated would not have accepted him. We hold that the INS may not deny an alien this opportunity nor rely upon such a prediction, and we grant the petition for review.

I

Dung Huu Bui petitions for review of the dismissal of his appeal by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). Bui is a native and citizen of Vietnam who entered the United States with his mother and seven siblings in 1991, under lawful permanent resident status. After Bui pleaded guilty to robbery and received a 34 month sentence in 1993, the United States initiated deportation proceedings under 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a)(2)(A)(i). Informed of his right to counsel, Bui elected to represent himself at a very brief deportation hearing. Neither counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) nor the immigration judge (“IJ”) knew of any relief from deportation for which Bui might be eligible. The IJ did not know of a country other than Vietnam that would…