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ARDESTANI v. INS Blackmun, J., dissenting

EAJA.1 Id., at 891. The Court conceded that this contention was “not without some force,” but went on to say that it did not “ris[e] to the level necessary to oust what we think is the most reasonable interpretation of the statute in light of its manifest purpose.” Id., at 890. The Court recognizes that there is no question that application of the EAJA to deportation proceedings would advance the Act’s manifest purposes of protecting individuals’ rights, deterring unjustified governmental action, and “help[ing] assure that administrative decisions reflect informed deliberation.” House Report, at 12. Indeed, unjustified INS deportation proceedings are a classic example of a situation in which persons “may be deterred from seeking review of, or defending against unreasonable governmental action because of the expense involved” and the “disparity between the resources and expertise of these individuals and their government.” House Report, at 5 and 6. An alien facing deportation generally is unfamiliar with the arcane system of immigration law, is often unskilled in the English language, and sometimes is uneducated; for these reasons, “deportation hearings are difficult for aliens to fully comprehend, let alone conduct, and individuals subject to such proceedings frequently require the assistance of counsel.” Escobar Ruiz v. INS, 838 F. 2d 1020, 1026 (CA9 1988) (en banc). In many areas, competent counsel is difficult to obtain. See Anker, Determining Asylum Claims in the United States, 2 Int’l J. of Refugee Law 252, 261 (1990). Evidence indicates that the INS has engaged in abusive litigation tactics. See Watson, No More “Independent Operators,” Legal Times, May 14, 1990, p. 2 (quoting remark of William P. Cook, then INS General Counsel, that “I have been told that some 1 The argument was stronger in Hudson because the legislative history of administrative EAJA explicitly precluded its application to the Social Security proceedings involved in that case, and because the Court’s argument against application of expressio unius was weaker than the argument made here against application of the sovereign immunity canon.