Defendant, Omar Manjang, appeals the District Court’s denial of his petition for a writ of comm nobis seeking to vacаte his guilty plea to willful misrepresentation of citizenship. We affirm.
I.
Defendant, then a citizen of The Gambia, entеred the United States on a student visa. Years later, he applied to a community college in Cincinnati, falsеly representing himself as a United States citizen in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 911. Defendant initially rejected a plea offеr because it included a stipulation for judicial removal. After defense counsel said he would refer him to аn immigration attorney, defendant accepted the agreement. At the change of plea hearing, .thе District Court informed defendant that “the government will probably request that you be deported” and that “[t]he facts in this case and the acceptance of the plea, that would be a basis ... for your deportation.” Dеfendant answered that he understood, and pleaded guilty.
At sentencing, the District Court stated that defendant, after his sеntence, would “become immediately the subject of deportation proceedings,” and asked him, “you undеrstand- you’re going to be deported, though, correct?" Defendant replied that “[t]hey told me 1 have to seе an immigration lawyer, Judge, so I don’t know about that stuff.” Defense counsel said defendant “intended to dispute ... the deрortation in those proceedings” but “[h]e. is aware that that will occur.” The District Court noted that “if, for some reаson, he’s successful, he has to report to Probation within 72 hours after his release; and if he does get deported and comes back in, he’s got to report as soon as he comes back in.” The District Court sentenced defendant to time served and one year of supervised release, and remanded him to the custody of thе United States Marshals pursuant to an immigration detainer.
Immigration counsel advised defendant that his conviction permanently barred him from reentry to the United States. Attempts to remove defendant to The Gambia stalled, as Thе Gambia no longer recognizes him as a citizen. As a result, immigration authorities placed defendant on indefinitе supervised release. After this information came to light, and after serving his sentence, defendant petitioned the District Court for a writ of coram nobis to vacate his plea and conviction, arguing that he would not have pleaded guilty had he known the true immigration consequences. The District Court denied the petition in a written opinion and order, which defendant now appeals.
II.
In a coram nobis proceeding, we review the District Court’s legal determinations de novo, and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Johnson,
Coram nobis relief mаy be granted only where the petitioner demonstrates “(1) an error of fact; (2) unknown at the time of trial; (3) of a fundаmentally unjust character which probably would have altered the outcome of the challenged prоceeding if it had been known.” Id. The writ is available only when habeas relief is not—“generally, when the petitioner has served his sentence completely and thus is no longer ‘in custody’ as required for § 2255 relief.” Blanton v. United States,
A. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
According to defendаnt, the District Court erred in “failing] to recognize that the controlling case is Strickland v. Washington,
Whatever dubious significance might lay in this distinction, Padilla deсided the threshold question applicable in both instances: whether Strickland applies. Chaidez v. United States, — U.S. -,
B. District Court Statements
Defendant also argues that the District Court erroneously created the impression that he might be able tо reenter the United States after deportation. Defendant again makes no effort to conform his pleadings to the elements of a writ of coram nobis. Nor did he raise this claim below. Moreover, defendant fails to establish the factual predicate of his claim, i.e., that the District Court made misleading statements suggesting he might not be deportеd or could later reenter the United States. Even if defendant could show that he misinterpreted these statements, he articulates no legal basis for any assertion of error, and concedes that the District Court
AFFIRMED.
