Diaz-Lemus
Diaz-Lemus v. Ashcroft
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Dolores Diaz-Lemus, a native and citizen of El Salvador, seeks review of a final order of deportation issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Immigration Judge (IJ) ordered Diaz-Lemus removed in absentia in 1990. Diaz-Lemus argues that he had reasonable cause for his failure to appear because he did not receive adequate notice.
Under section 242(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (b), as in effect at the time of the hearing, the IJ was required to give the alien “notice, reasonable under all the circumstances, of the nature of the charges against him and of the time and place at which the proceedings [were to] be held.” Such notice did not have to be written, but to satisfy due process it had to be “reasonably calculated to reach interested parties.” Mulleme v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 318 , 70 S.Ct. 652 , 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950). Just two months after Diaz-Lemus was ordered removed in absentia, Congress enacted the Immigration Act of 1990 requiring written deportation hearing notice of the September 28, 1990 hearing. Immigration Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-649, § 545 (a), 104 Stat. 4978 , 5061 (1990).