United States Ninth Circuit

In immigration proceedings, an order removing Georgian native to the Ukraine is vacated and the matter remanded where: 1) substantial evidence did not support the BIA's finding that petitioner entered the U.S. with a Ukranian passport as he entered the U.S. with a passport issued by the Soviet Union and stamped with the date of his entry to the U.S.; and 2) a remand was required for the BIA to determine the meaning of the term "country" in the removal context, and to determine in the first instance whether pre-independent Ukraine qualifies as a "country".

Appellate Information

• Argued 07/08/2008
• Decided 08/25/2008
• Published 08/25/2008

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RICHARD R. CLIFTON, and N. RANDY SMITH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Vicky Dobrin and Hilary A. Han, Dobrin & Han, PC, Seattle, WA, for the petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Ada E. Bosque and Peter D. Keisler, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC;  Alison Marie Igoe and Jeffrey L. Menkin, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for the respondent.