Tadesse v. Gonzales

Tadesse v. Gonzales is one of several cases the National Immigrant Justice Center has litigated to challenge the government's denial of basic legal rights, such as the right to present evidence.
 
After the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the late 1990s, Ethiopians of Eritrean heritage were persecuted by the Ethiopian government.  Upon returning from a period of study abroad, Ms. Tadesse was interrogated for eight hours, accused of spying for the Eritrean government, beaten, raped, and ordered deported.  The deportation order that she was given by the Ethiopian government was on a photocopied piece of paper with her name written in by hand.  A U.S. government document examiner determined that the document was a copy (which was uncontested) and erroneously concluded that it was therefore fraudulent.  Ms. Tadesse attempted to present an expert to show that in Ethiopia during that time period, that it would not have been unusual for a form to be copied and filled in, as occurred in her case.  The Immigration Judge refused to permit Ms. Tadesse's expert witness to testify, though the judge permitted the Government's expert to testify with no advance warning and without submitting an affidavit until the day of the hearing.
 
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found in Tadesse v. Gonzales that the immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals violated Ms. Tadesse's statutory rights.  In a published decision, the Seventh Circuit found that the immigration judge had (1) violated Tadesse's right of cross-examination by permitting the Government's witness to testify without complying with local rules requiring the affidavit to be shared with Tadesse, (2) violated Tadesse's right to present evidence by refusing to permit her expert to testify, and (3) erred in basing the asylum denial on minor inconsistencies and imagined implausibilites. "Tadesse did not receive a fair hearing, and she is entitled to a new one," wrote Judge Williams.  492 F.3d 905 (7th Cir. 2007), 2007 WL 1966843 (C.A.7)