Press Releases, Pro Bono
Katten Wins New Asylum Hearing for Brazilian Immigrant
May 12, 2009
CHICAGO – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, together with the National Immigrant Justice Center, is pleased to announce that it has won a unanimous decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, requiring a new asylum trial for Brazilian refugee Jonathan Castilho de Oliveira.
Mr. Castilho de Oliveira, whom Katten is representing on a pro bono basis, fled Brazil for the United States when he was 16 years old. His father had been murdered at the order of corrupt Brazilian politicians and banking officials when he was eight, after his father threatened to expose their schemes. For years, the same corrupt officials threatened Mr. Castilho de Oliveira and his family, prompting him to eventually flee Brazil and seek asylum in the U.S.
Katten Litigation and Dispute Resolution associates Dean V. Hoffman and Cara A. Roecker originally represented Mr. Castilho de Oliveira at his hearing before Immigration Judge O. John Brahos, who ruled against him. Mr. Castilho de Oliveira’s team of Katten pro bono lawyers, joined by Litigation and Dispute Resolution associate Tiffani C. Siegel, then argued to the Seventh Circuit that Judge Brahos’s conduct at the hearing so strongly evidenced bias against their client, that he had been denied a fair hearing before a neutral trial judge guaranteed him by statute and regulation.
The Seventh Circuit, “[w]ithout commenting on the merits of Castilho de Oliveira’s claim,” agreed, noting that Judge Brahos “strained to find difficulties with Castilho de Oliveira’s testimony while ignoring evidence that corroborated it.”
Reviewing a list of “bizarre” conduct by the immigration judge toward Mr. Castilho de Oliveira, his witnesses and his attorneys, the Court of Appeals concluded that: “Taken individually, any of the flaws we have identified in this hearing might be viewed as a harmless mistake. But the record as a whole . . . leaves the impression that the IJ entered the hearing with his mind already made up.” The Court of Appeals voted unanimously to order a new hearing, “preferably before a new immigration judge.”
“We are pleased to have assisted our client in ensuring that he receives the fair hearing that he is guaranteed by law and regulation,” said Mr. Hoffman. “This is an important victory for all asylum applicants, as sometimes a hearing is so clearly tainted by bias that whatever the merits of the claim, the immigration iudge’s decision must be reversed.”
Katten has a long-term commitment to helping the poor, the powerless and the disenfranchised obtain first-rate representation without charge. Attorneys and other legal professionals give their time, resources and talent to serve individuals and organizations in need, to engage in important national litigation, and to partner with local legal service provid ers to ensure access to the justice system.