The Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) has reaffirmed its decision in Matter of Pickering, which holds that a conviction vacated because of a substantive defect in the underlying proceedings is no longer a valid conviction for immigration purposes.  In so doing, the Board refused to follow the Fifth Circuit's decision in Renteria-Gonzalez v. INS, which held that a vacated conviction remains valid for immigration purposes no matter what the reason was for the vacatur. 

The full text of Matter of Marquez Conde can be found here:

https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1049656/download

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