The Board of Immigration Appeals has sustained DHS's appeal against a returning lawful permanent resident who was stopped at Nogales, Arizona, driving her own vehicle with about 208 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside and about $7,886 in cash. The Board held that the Immigration Judge clearly erred in finding her credible, since her testimony was evasive, inconsistent about the vehicle's whereabouts and her activities in Mexico, and unsupported by documents, including a receipt that appeared to postdate her departure from Mexico. The Board held that DHS proved by clear and convincing evidence that she engaged in illegal activity after departing the United States under INA § 101(a)(13)(C)(iii), making her an applicant for admission, and that she was inadmissible as a controlled substance trafficker under INA § 212(a)(2)(C)(i) based on her ownership and control of the vehicle, her unexplained cash, and her relationship with a friend with known ties to narcotics traffickers.
The full text of Matter of Carol Y. Ozuna Mendoza can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1468646/dl?inline