Court denies immigrants right to attorney in expedited deportations

Judge Jay Bybee in 2002. Bybee wrote the majority opinion in a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, that unauthorized immigrants who are caught soon after their entry have no right to a lawyer in expedited removal proceedings. less Judge Jay Bybee in 2002. Bybee wrote the majority opinion in a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, that unauthorized immigrants who are caught soon after their entry have no right to a lawyer in ... more Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Court denies immigrants right to attorney in expedited deportations 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A divided federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that immigrants who are caught soon after entering the country illegally have no right to a lawyer in expedited removal proceedings, which are used to deport many thousands each year and could be greatly expanded under President Trump.

Most immigrants held for deportation have the right to a hearing, before an immigration judge, and to be represented by a lawyer, though not at government expense. Under a 1996 law, however, migrants who were recently caught on the U.S. side of the border must appear in brief proceedings before a Customs and Border Protection officer, who can order deportation of anyone without proper papers. The law does not apply to those seeking asylum because of political persecution. Those are referred to an asylum officer.

More than 192,000 expedited deportations were carried out in 2013, according to government data cited in Tuesday’s ruling. In 2004, President George W. Bush’s administration limited those proceedings to immigrants caught less than 100 miles from the border within 14 days of their entry. But the law would allow the Trump administration to apply the proceedings to unauthorized migrants caught anywhere in the United States in the previous two years.

The case involved Rufino Peralta-Sanchez, who entered the U.S. from Mexico in 1979, at age 20. He obtained legal status in 1986 and has three U.S. citizen children, but he was deported in 1999 after serving prison time for felony drunken driving, five years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the crime was not a violent felony that justified deporting legal residents.

Peralta has returned to the U.S. several times and served more prison time for illegal re-entry. After being deported by expedited removal in 2012, he returned within a few days and was caught, convicted and sentenced to 3½ years in prison.

In a 2-1 ruling upholding his conviction, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected Peralta’s claim that his 2012 deportation was improper because he was not allowed a lawyer.

The expedited proceedings are straightforward, with little “risk of error,” and it is “unclear what added value counsel would provide,” Judge Jay Bybee said in the majority opinion. Allowing legal representation would make the proceedings longer and more expensive for the government, Bybee said.

In dissent, Judge Harry Pregerson said studies have found numerous errors in the proceedings, such as the failure to advise immigrants of their rights or to refer them to asylum officers, and a lawyer could restore some level of fairness. Peralta’s lawyer, Kara Hartzler, said she would ask the full appeals court for a new hearing.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko