That's one of the claims in Eke v. Mukasey, a case stemming from Eke's prospective deportation for committing an aggravated felony:

Eke claims that the government violated his due process rights by conducting his hearing by televideo rather than in person. Eke contends that if the IJ had seen him in person, the IJ would have recognized that Eke is in fact homosexual.

No dice, says the Seventh Circuit. (Note that the criminal law rules, under which a defendant and the witnesses must generally be physically present at trial, don't apply in administrative cases, such as immigration hearings.)