United States Ninth Circuit

Petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) decision finding petitioner removable for his California state conviction is granted, and the removal order vacated, where: 1) the government did not carry its burden to establish that petitioner's conviction was an aggravated felony or controlled substance offense, and thus petitioner's California Health & Safety Code (CHS) section 11351 conviction was neither an aggravated felony nor a controlled substance offense under the Immigration and Nationality Act; 2) petitioner's CHS section 11351 conviction for carrying a firearm in violation of California Penal Code section 12022(c) did not constitute a categorical firearm offense; and 3) the government was precluded from relitigating the issue of whether petitioner was removable for his conviction of a second controlled substance conviction under CHS section 11377.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/19/2014
• Published 09/19/2014

Judges

• Hawkins

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel