CA5: 4A IAC for not challenging search doesn’t avoid deportation

“Even if these arguments pose a constitutional claim that we may review, the IJ and BIA did not abuse their discretion in denying Trevino’s motion to reopen on the basis that his guilty plea was invalid due to ineffective assistance of counsel [for failing to move to suppress]. Trevino’s argument that his conviction should not form the basis for his removal because counsel rendered ineffective assistance in connection with the conviction is essentially a collateral attack on a prior conviction. ‘Once the conviction becomes final, it provides a valid basis for deportation unless it is overturned in a judicial post-conviction proceeding.’” Trevino v. Barr, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 15315 (5th Cir. May 23, 2019).*

Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging whether the picture of probable child pornography was close enough for probable cause because it was. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the search of his hard drive because it would have been inevitably discovered based on the totality of the facts. United States v. Strausbaugh, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85715 (M.D. Pa. May 22, 2019).*