Irfan Gokce, a Turkish national illegally present in the United States, and a repeat offender, was arrested by immigration authorities on September 29, 2000 and removal proceedings were initiated against him by the United States.

Even though the law specifically precludes foreign nationals from accessing taxpayer funded legal counsel in deportation proceedings, Gokce is now demanding such counsel. Gokce's legal team includes Robert Pauw (an immigration lawyer with Gibbons, Houston & Pauw  a Seattle firm that frequently sues immigration authorities) and the American Immigration Law Foundation, a branch of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Gokce claims that his "mental disability," evinced by dramatic displays and belligerent behavior in the courtroom, prevent him from receiving a fair hearing unless taxpayers provide him with free counsel.

(It must be pointed out that if the court rules in favor of Gokce, it will mean a huge financial bonanza for Gokce's legal team's associates. Currently, foreign nationals and illegal aliens under removal proceedings in the United States do not have the right to make American taxpayers pay for legal efforts to obstruct their removal. The Gokce case is an effort by the illegal immigration legal industry to drastically expand the ability to profit by alien removals at the public trough.)

FILE has filed an amicus brief supporting the government.

[Update: The case was decided in favor of the government in November, 2003]

April 16, 2003