Seventh Circuit Applies Mailbox Rule to Detainee

The Seventh Circuit has determined that the "mailbox rule" should apply to a detained immigrant who handed his petition for review to an official at the detention facility before the 30 day appeal deadline had lapsed, even if the petition was not received in the clerk's office until after the 30 day deadline.  The panel also determined that the Immigration Judge had erred by failing to advise the petitioner of the availability of pre-conclusion voluntary departure, but denied his petition for review because he had failed to raise this argument before the Board of Immigration Appeals.  Judge Posner wrote a scathing dissent, deeming the Immigration Court system to be the most incompetent federal agency.

The full text of Chavarria-Reyes v. Lynch can be found here:

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D12-30/C:15-3730:J:Easterbrook:aut:T:fnOp:N:1887878:S:0

Ninth Circuit Grants Motion to File New Evidence to Show Compliance with Mailbox Rule by Detainee

Typically, a petition for review must be received by the clerk's office of the federal appeals court within 30 days of the agency's final decision.  However, a detainee or inmate need only show that mailed his petition by the 30th day, in accordance with the detention facility's procedures for mailing legal documents.  In the instant case, the Ninth Circuit granted a motion to file new evidence (an extremely unusual procedure at a federal appeals court) to allow a detainee to prove that he had complied with this rule, and thus, that the Court had jurisdiction to review his appeal even though the petition for review was received by the clerk's office five days after the 30 day deadline.  The court noted that when a detainee's declaration of compliance with the mailbox rule is presented after his petition for review, the court has the discretion to refuse to consider the declaration.

The full text of Barrientos v. Lynch can be found here:

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/07/19/14-73178.pdf