Ex-Immigration Lawyer Denied Habeas Relief in Asylum Fraud Case

A former immigration attorney convicted of falsifying asylum applications lost an appeal to vacate his sentence after the Seventh Circuit rejected claims that his due process rights were violated when the government failed to disclose assistance provided to client-witnesses before and after trial.

The undisclosed information about pre-trial benefits the government provided to some of its witnesses was immaterial, and post-trial benefits provided to witnesses either weren’t promised or wouldn’t have affected the trial outcome had they been disclosed, the court said.

Evidence of pre-trial immigration assistance provided to the client-witnesses wouldn’t have changed the result of Robert DeKelaita’s trial, ...