Mexican National Had Right to Attorney at Asylum Hearing

Mexican national Baldemar Zuniga is entitled to a new hearing in his fight for asylum due to a “reasonable fear” of retribution from a drug cartel, an appeals court ruled Aug. 20.

Zuniga had a right to an attorney during the hearing where an immigration judge determined whether he had a reasonable fear of facing persecution or torture if he returned to Mexico, but didn’t have access to one, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The Immigration and Nationality Act clearly provided non-citizens a right to counsel in removal proceedings, including reasonable fear review proceedings, the ...