Immigrant Can Be Removed Despite ‘Self-Execution’ of Prior Order

An immigrant may be lawfully removed from the U.S. under a deportation order issued after she voluntarily left the country because she hadn’t been deported or removed before she left, the Eleventh Circuit said Monday.

Estela Mabel Argueta Romero’s ability to remain in the U.S. depended on the interpretation of a “genuinely ambiguous” law that doesn’t make clear when a deportation order remains effective following a “self-execution,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said.

Argueta Romero illegally immigrated from Guatemala to the U.S. in 1993. She left in 1995 while deportation proceedings were pending against her. An ...