The prosecutor glanced in Mona’s direction before sitting down. She wasn’t 100 percent sure, but she thought she saw a nod of assent from the bench. The judge shifted his gaze back onto her. She stood. Before she had a chance to speak, the judge said, “I don’t know you, Counsel. You’re not from the Paradise public defender’s office.”
“No, Your Honor,” replied Mona. “I’m from the not-for-profit Together for a Safer Border. I’m representing Carmen Vega pro bono—”
The judge waved some papers at her. “I know all that, Miss Jimenez. It’s all in this bio you provided, along with your motion to dismiss. What I mean is, we don’t know each other.”
“I’m not sure I understand, Your Honor.”
“Let me try to make it clear for you, Counsel. I don’t know you, and clearly you don’t know me. If you knew me, you’d know I don’t like a clogged docket. You’d know that I have never dismissed a border case and that I’m not about to start. If you knew me, you’d have known this motion of yours is a complete waste of time. And I don’t like wasting time, Counsel.”
“I just know the law, Your Honor—”
“I haven’t finished, Miss Jimenez.”
Mona said nothing. Specifically, she didn’t throw at the judge the cussword loitering under her breath. He waved the sheaf of papers again.
“Now, because I don’t like to waste time, I’m going to nip this in the bud. I started reading your motion in my chambers, Counsel. I got as far as the first page. You actually expect me to dismiss this case because you claim the defendant was illegally deported?”
“Your Honor, when the acting deputy assistant district director at San Ysidro signed the removal order on Ms. Vega on August 26, neither he nor any of the Border Patrol agents who took her into their custody that day informed her that she was eligible for relief from deportation. This substantially prejudiced my client, Your Honor, since it violated her right to due process—”
“Due process! She was hiding in the trunk of a car!”
“Your Honor, as the court well knows, every person who passes through our legal system is entitled to due process.”
The judge sniffed. “Do you know how many immigration cases were heard just in the Southern District last year, Counsel?”
“Yes, Your Honor.” She gave him the exact figure.
His eyes narrowed behind his spectacles.
“That’s more than were heard for drug offenses, Your Honor,” continued Mona.
“I don’t need a lesson, Counsel.”
“Very well, Your Honor.”
“My point is, there’s a national crisis, and we are the front line. Hell, just look around my own courtroom, Ms. Jimenez. I’ve got ninety-nine more cases to get through just today. I don’t have time for frivolous motions.”
“With respect, Your Honor, a violation of due process isn’t frivolous. As a point of law, the indictment against my client cannot stand. Since Ms. Vega was illegally removed on August 28 last year, she cannot now be indicted for reentry after removal.”
“Nonsense. The agents were well within the law when they removed Ms. Vega. She was attempting to enter illegally.”
“Your Honor, I don’t dispute that Ms. Vega entered the country illegally; I dispute that she was removed from it legally. The acting deputy assistant district director at San Ysidro overtly misadvised Ms. Vega that she had no possibility of relief from deportation, whereas in fact, Ms. Vega was fleeing persecution and therefore had an inalienable right to apply for asylum. As a result of the deputy assistant district director’s egregious haste, Your Honor, Ms. Vega was returned to Mexico, where she was subjected to horrific violence. The government improperly denied my client judicial review, and she almost died because of it. Moreover, Your Honor, as a point of law, since Ms. Vega was illegally removed, she cannot now be indicted for reentry after removal. If I may cite the Supreme Court’s opinion in the case of United States v. Mendoza-Lopez: ‘If USC 1326 envisions that a court may impose a criminal penalty for reentry after any deportation, regardless of how violative of the rights of the alien the deportation proceedings may have been, the statute does not comport with constitutional due process.’”
Mona became aware that in her outrage, she’d allowed the tempo of her speech to accelerate, and now the interpreter was struggling to keep up with her. She took a deep breath and looked apologetically in the poor woman’s direction. She’d broken a golden rule of court work: never get angry except on purpose. She looked down and took a deep, calming breath. When she looked up again, the judge had a condescending smile plastered across his small, round face.
“Let me see if I’ve got this straight, Counsel,” he said. “You’re arguing that if the border agents at San Ysidro had informed the defendant of her right to asylum when they caught her in the trunk of a car on August 26, she would’ve applied, and that by not informing her, they violated her constitutional rights, and therefore her removal was unconstitutional.”
“If it please the court, that’s exactly what I’m saying, Your Honor.” And so is the Supreme Court, you idiot, she thought but did not say.
His smirk widened. “So your argument rests on whether the defendant’s application for asylum would’ve been successful,” he said. “Because if it wasn’t successful—and I’m just following your own logic here, Ms. Jimenez—then the defendant would’ve exhausted all administrative remedies to her removal and the original order would’ve been legitimate. Is that right?”
“Your Honor, the outcome of Ms. Vega’s asylum application is speculative and therefore irrelevant in law, although I believe she has a strong case. The point is that she was not offered that recourse.”
“I get to decide what’s relevant or not in my courtroom, Counsel.”
“Very well, Your Honor.” Mona literally bit her tongue.
“On what basis would the defendant have applied for asylum?” said the judge.
“Your Honor, as the court well knows, that is outside the scope of this court—”
“Once again, that’s for me to decide,” said the judge, his voice rising.
Mona thought, What is this place? Where in hell am I? Does the law not apply here? “My client’s fear of persecution is genuine, Your Honor.”
“You haven’t answered my question, Counsel,” said the judge.
“Your Honor, Ms. Vega intends to apply for asylum on the basis of belonging to a persecuted group.”
“And which group is that?”
“Women in Mexico who experience domestic abuse, Your Honor.”
The judge laughed out loud. “That’s her claim? She’s persecuted because she’s a woman? Why not let in all Mexican women, Counsel?”
Mona thought of all the women murdered in Ciudad Juárez. If they’d been a few hundred meters north, in El Paso, they’d be alive today.
“While we’re at it, why not let in all women everywhere in the world?” continued the judge. “Do you think we ought to give asylum to all the women in the world, Counsel?”
“Only those who request protection from systemic gender violence, Your Honor.”