Posner Calls Immigration Court Least Competent Agency

An immigration judge erred by not telling an unrepresented immigrant being removed about his option to voluntarily depart the country, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Dec. 30 (Chavarria-Reyes v. Lynch, 2016 BL 435638, 7th Cir., No. 15-3730, 12/30/16).

Because the immigrant didn’t exhaust all of his administrative remedies, however, he wasn’t entitled to relief, the court said in an opinion by Judge Frank H. Easterbrook.

But the opinion also suggested that the immigrant can ask the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen his case, or the government could consent to reopening, in light ...