These summaries are not intended as legal advice. Please contact a licensed attorney to discuss the specifics of your case.
The Ninth Circuit has determined that a Washington misdemeanor conviction for harassment qualifies as a crime of violence because it involves the threatened or actual use of force.
The full text of Rodriguez-Hernandez v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/12/27/21-456.pdf
The Ninth Circuit has remanded a case to the agency to reevaluate a petitioner’s evidence of her delay in meeting a filing deadline. “Rodriguez was in the process of gathering evidence when she fled her abusive partner and was no longer able to access the documents that she had already collected. That evidence became unavailable once she became homeless, destitute, and unable to contact her attorney. Moreover, we see no reason to penalize Rodriguez for failing to meet a December 2017 deadline that the IJ vacated and extended to September 2018, particularly because neither party has asked us to do so. The BIA should therefore decide on remand whether any evidence that Rodriguez might have been able to access years earlier but that became unavailable more than ten months before the September 2018 filing deadline was still ‘reasonably available’ to her as the deadline approached.”
The full text of Alcarez-Rodriguez v. Garland can be found here: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/12/28/21-411.pdf
The Fifth Circuit has determined that a Texas conviction for aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon is a crime of violence because it requires the use or attempted use of physical force.
The full text of Delgado-Victorio v. Garland can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/23/23-60102-CV0.pdf
The First Circuit has rejected the agency’s determination that an asylum applicant’s proposed social group was impermissibly circular simply because it referenced harm in its definition. “If an applicant's proffered social group, examined without consideration of the potentially circular language, shares independent socially distinctive characteristics, then neither the IJ nor the BIA may reject the group as legally invalid without further substantive analysis.”
The full text of Espinoza-Ochoa v. Garland can be found here:
The Eighth Circuit has determined that a Minnesota conviction for intentionally hiring or offering or agreeing to hire an individual who the defendant reasonably believed to be under the age of 16 years but at least 13 years to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact is a sexual abuse of a minor aggravated felony.
The full text of Aguilar-Sanchez v. Garland can be found here:
The Seventh Circuit has determined that a Kentucky conviction for complicity to robbery in the first degree is a crime of violence. In so doing, the court concluded that Kentucky’s complicity statute is a categorical match for generic aiding-and-abetting liability; that Kentucky’s first-degree robbery statute requires sufficient force to overcome the victim’s will; and that the robbery statute requires that an individual use force with the specific intent to accomplish theft.
The full text of Mwendapeke v. Garland can be found here: https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/OpinionsWeb/processWebInputExternal.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2023/D12-07/C:22-2383:J:Brennan:aut:T:fnOp:N:3140778:S:0
The Sixth Circuit has remanded the asylum claim of an indigenous Guatemalan woman to further analyze if she was persecuted on account of her membership in two social groups: 1) Guatemalan Chuj Women in domestic relationships who are unable to leave; and (2) Guatemalan Chuj Women who are viewed as property by virtue of their positions within a domestic relationship.
The full text of Sebastian-Sebastian v. Garland can be found here:
The Fifth Circuit has reversed its prior decision and determined that it has jurisdiction to review the agency’s denial of withholding of removal and protection under the Convention against Torture to a non-citizen subject to a reinstatement order, so long as the petition for review is filed within 30 days of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision. The opinion also contains an excellent analysis of when threats rise to the level of persecution, and how to articulate sufficient nexus in a “mixed motives” analysis.
The full text of Argueta-Hernandez v. Garland can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/22/22-60307-CV1.pdf
The Second Circuit has determined that a New York conviction for possession for sale of a controlled substance is not a controlled substance offense because it criminalizes possession of several cocaine isomers not found in the federal drug statutes and the statute is indivisible.
The full text of US v. Chaires can be found here: https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/a3eff4c5-8ea3-4d44-b8f2-ca139dc304b1/11/doc/20-4162_complete_opn.pdf#xml=https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/a3eff4c5-8ea3-4d44-b8f2-ca139dc304b1/11/hilite/
The Board of Immigration Appeals has again narrowed the circumstances in which an asylum applicant can establish the requisite nexus between persecution and the particular social group comprised of the applicant’s family. “In our view, the Tenth Circuit’s approach is the proper way to analyze whether membership in a family-based particular social group is one central reason for harm. The question asked under the Fourth Circuit’s approach—why an applicant, and not others, is targeted—is relevant in evaluating the reasons for harm, but it is not the end of the analysis. When a persecutor targets multiple members of a single family, their family membership may be a reason for harming them, especially when non-family members are not similarly targeted. However, the fact that family membership is a reason for harm does not mean that it is necessarily one central reason. If a persecutor is targeting members of a certain family as a means of achieving some other ultimate goal unrelated to the protected ground, family membership is incidental or subordinate to that other ultimate goal and therefore not one central reason for the harm. Likewise, when a persecutor’s threats to harm family members are contingent on one or more of the family members acting or failing to act in a certain way—such as failing to comply with demands for money or other property—family membership is unlikely to be one central reason for that harm and instead will be merely a means to another end.”
The full text of Matter of M-R-M-S- can be found here:
The Ninth Circuit has determined that Idaho conviction for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance is an aggravated felony. First, the court determined the statute is divisible with respect to the identity of the drug. Second, the court found that Idaho’s mens rea requirement matches the federal requirements. Third, the court found that Idaho’s aiding and abetting liability is no broader than the federal counterpart.
The full text of Tellez-Ramirez v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/11/29/22-1168.pdf
The Ninth Circuit has affirmed that visa must be available both at the an adjustment of status application is filed and when it is adjudicated.
The full next of Babaria v. Blinken can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/12/01/22-16700.pdf
The Eighth Circuit has concluded that an Arizona kidnapping conviction qualifies as a crime of violence because it requires the use of force against the victim (unless the victim is a minor or incompetent).
The full text of US v. Goforth can be found here:
The Ninth Circuit declined to find that a non-citizen’s inculpatory statements should be suppressed in removal proceedings because he was arrested pursuant to an administrative warrant and did not receive Miranda warnings.
The full text of Zuniga de la Cruz v. Garland can be found here:
The Fourth Circuit has determined that it has no jurisdiction over a petition for review challenging the denial of withholding of removal and protection under the Convention against Torture filed by a non-citizen subject to a reinstated removal order. The court assumed, without deciding, that a reinstatement order is a final order for jurisdictional purposes, but found that the petition for review as filed more than 30 days after the issuance of the reinstatement order.
The full text of Martinez v. Garland can be found here:
The First Circuit has determined that serving the attorney who filed a VAWA self-petition with notice of intent to revoke the approval of that petition is sufficient to provide notice the applicant of the intended revocation. The full text of Manguriu v. Garland can be found here:
The Second Circuit has determined that an Arkansas conviction for abuse of a corpse is not categorically a crime involving moral turpitude because it includes mere disinterment of a corpse. The court also concluded that the statute is divisible between disinterment and mistreatment of a corpse.
The full text of Giron-Molina v. Garland can be found here:
The Board of Immigration Appeals has determined that because an appeal accepted under section 460.30 of the New York Criminal Procedure Law is classified as a direct appeal, a respondent with a pending appeal under this section does not have a final conviction for immigration purposes.
The full text of Matter of Brathwaite can be found here:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has redesignated Temporary Protected Status for Cameroon. Cameroonian citizens who continuously resided in the US since October 5, 2023 (and who are otherwise eligible) may now apply.
The full announcement can be found here:
The California Court of Appeals, Fourth Appellate District, has reversed the vacatur of a misdemeanor conviction for receipt of stolen property, finding that the conviction was neither an aggravated felony nor a crime involving moral turpitude. As such, the defendant - a lawful permanent resident - had not established by a preponderance of the evidence that the conviction was causing an adverse immigration consequence.
The full text of People v. Coca can be found here:
