Background
Heriberto Perez-Castillo, a Mexican citizen with a history of criminal convictions including battery against family members, sought cancellation of removal. The immigration judge and Board of Immigration Appeals denied relief, citing his domestic violence conviction and lack of exceptional hardship to his spouse. Perez-Castillo petitioned the Seventh Circuit, but his opening brief contained numerous AI-generated hallucinations, including fabricated quotations and non-existent case citations.
The court’s reasoning
The court denied the petition on the merits because Perez-Castillo waived his challenge to the hardship determination before the Board and was categorically ineligible for relief due to his conviction for a crime of domestic violence. Regarding the attorneys, the court found that counsel Abdullah Salah violated Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure forty-six by certifying a brief he did not review, which contained false legal propositions and factual misrepresentations. The court determined that while co-counsel Farah Chalisa showed contrition, her use of artificial intelligence to draft the brief resulted in significant errors, warranting a referral to state disciplinary authorities rather than immediate sanctions.
What it means going forward
Attorneys practicing before the Seventh Circuit are on notice that outsourcing brief preparation to artificial intelligence without rigorous verification constitutes conduct unbecoming a member of the bar and will likely result in monetary sanctions or disciplinary referrals.