Ortega-Castillo

MEMORANDUM **

Alonso Ortega-Castillo (“Defendant”) appeals from his conviction as an alien under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 for illegally reentering the United States. Defendant, the son of two United States citizens and the father of four United States citizens, was convicted of several crimes while living in the United States. Eventually, the Immigration & Naturalization Service (“INS”) initiated deportation proceedings against him and Defendant was deported to Mexico pursuant to a hearing conducted by an immigration judge (“IJ”). Defendant re-entered the United States on numerous occasions, leading the United States to file the indictment against Defendant.

At the evidentiary hearing on Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment, mechanical failures required that live testimony from the IJ be entered into evidence in lieu of a tape recorded account of Defendant’s actual deportation proceeding. Although the IJ did not remember the specifics of Defendant’s case, she testified about her standard procedures, and, that she had employed those procedures on the day she heard Defendant’s case. Defendant nonetheless claims that he was not advised of his right to appeal, and, that he was not…