Thread: Miers helped migrant facing deportation

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 937243.htm

Posted on Wed, Oct. 19, 2005

IMMIGRATION


Miers helped migrant facing deportation

In a pro bono case, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers once persuaded an immigration judge to prevent the deportation of a foreign national who was facing repatriation.

By ALFONSO CHARDY

achardy@herald.com


When Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers headed the State Bar of Texas more than a decade ago, she volunteered her time to successfully defend a young woman from Nigeria facing deportation.

Miers represented the woman on behalf of Catholic Charities of Dallas, one of many immigrant rights advocacy groups that represent poor migrants facing removal or seeking asylum in the United States. These groups are generally perceived by people opposed to undocumented migrants as biased in favor of illegal migrants.

Individual lawyers who work for these groups often have views that differ from group philosophies and merely represent their clients zealously, as lawyers are expected to do.

Bush nominated Miers to the high court on Oct. 3. Her confirmation hearing is expected in November.

Miers' role in the 1993 Dallas immigration case could add to a debate, principally involving conservatives, about whether she is conservative enough for the nation's high court. Certain conservative leaders have voiced concerns about Miers' philosophy.

At the same time, the case would show that she has had experience handling cases beyond the regular law courts. Immigration courts are administrative, overseen by the Justice Department.

Miers' role in the immigration case came to light in some of her biographies posted on websites. Miers headed the State Bar of Texas and worked for the large Dallas law firm of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell -- which she went on to lead in 1996 -- when she took on the case.

Maria Tamburri, a White House spokeswoman, said Miers dedicated many hours to the case.

''Harriet Miers devoted about 125 hours in a single year to litigating an immigration case pro bono on behalf of Catholic Charities,'' Tamburri said. ``Ms. Miers also worked on family law matters on a pro bono and paid basis.''

Catholic Charities almost didn't take the case because its leaders felt at the time there was little hope of helping the woman avoid deportation.

''It was a very complicated case,'' said Vanna Slaughter, division director for Catholic Charities' immigration and legal services in Dallas. ``But it was a compelling, humanitarian case. She had tremendous compassion for the circumstances of this young woman.''

Slaughter declined to provide details because she had not been able to contact the Nigerian, whose identity she refused to reveal. The case file has since been destroyed. She said Catholic Charities in Dallas purges files after 10 years.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the immigration court system, said it would be difficult to find a record of the case without the migrant's name or her alien number -- assigned to foreign nationals who arrive legally or are found in the country illegally. Transcripts of court proceedings are created only when one of the parties appeals a judge's ruling. Neither Miers nor the government appealed, Slaughter said.

At the time, Slaughter said, Catholic Charities concluded it did not have enough resources to adequately represent the Nigerian. But the organization contacted lawyers willing to do pro bono work, and Miers responded.

Miers prepared the case, found witnesses and appeared before the immigration judge on her own to plead the matter. She went against a trial attorney representing the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and prevented the woman's deportation.

Slaughter said she believes the Nigerian is still in the United States but would not disclose her location or immigration status.

If the case was an asylum matter, the Nigerian could have received asylum and eventually a green card. If she was denied asylum, she could have stayed under a grant of withholding or deferral that could have required her to periodically report to the immigration service and obtain renewable work permits.

This non entity is another Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Nobody knows how to betray his own base better than Jorge Junior.