The Eighth Circuit has rejected the proposed particular social group of “witnesses who cooperate with law enforcement,” finding that it lacks the required social distinction.
The full text of Lemus-Coronado v. Garland can be found here:
The Seventh Circuit has determined that the Supreme Court’s decision in Patel v. Garland does not strip it of jurisdiction to review the agency’s negative good moral character determination in connection with an application for cancellation of removal when the determination is based on undisputed facts.
The full text of Cruz-Velasco v. Garland can be found here:
The Second Circuit has determined that a New York conviction for second degree sexual abuse qualifies as a sexual abuse of a minor aggravated felony. The opinion included a concurrence calling on the Second Circuit to reexamine its case law on the definition of sexual abuse of a minor in light of more recent Supreme Court case law.
The full text of Debique v. Garland can be found here:
The Second Circuit has determined that New York’s first-degree assault statute is divisible, but the prongs that require intent to cause physical injury and use of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument match the definition of a crime of violence.
The full text of Singh v. Garland can be found here: https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/fe9d6267-187a-43e6-822f-738f2704f49b/10/doc/19-2910_opn.pdf#xml=https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/fe9d6267-187a-43e6-822f-738f2704f49b/10/hilite/
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services has redesignated and extended Temporary Protected Status for Somalia for 18 months. Somalis present in the United States on or before January 11, 2023, are eligible to apply.
The announcement can be found here:
The Board of Immigration Appeals has determined that a respondent who moves to reopen proceedings to seek cancellation of removal for non-lawful permanent residents must make a prima facie showing of exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his qualifying relatives. In addition, the issuance of administratively final removal order does not stop the accrual of physical presence for cancellation purposes. Finally, the BIA declined to determined if the decision in Niz Chavez represents a fundamental change in law warranting sua sponte reopening.
The full text of Matter of Chen can be found here:
The Fourth Circuit has determined that the Virginia identity theft statute is divisible, and the subsection requiring an intent to defraud is a crime involving moral turpitude.
The full text of Salazar v. Garland can be found here:
USCIS has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemen for an additional 18 months and redesignated Yemen as a TPS country. Citizens of Yemen who have been present in the United States since December 29, 2022, are now eligible to apply.
The full announcement can be found here:
The Eleventh Circuit has determined that Matter of Thomas and Thompson is a reasonable interpretation of the INA and that it can be retroactively applied to sentencing modifications that pre-date the decision.
The full text of Edwards v. Attorney General can be found here:
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201915077.pdf
Am amended decision can be found here:
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201915077.op2.pdf
The Ninth Circuit has determined that solicitation of transportation of an explosive in interstate commerce with intent that the explosive kill, injure, or intimidate another person or damage property constitutes the attempted use of violent force.
“In this case, we conclude that someone who solicits a violation of § 844(d) categorically solicits the attempted use of physical force: transporting or receiving an explosive with the knowledge or intent that it will be used to kill, injure, or intimidate any person, or damage property, is categorically a substantial step toward the use of violent force.”
The full text of US v. Linehan can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/12/22/21-50206.pdf
The Ninth Circuit has remanded a motion to reopen filed by a pro se applicant who missed her first hearing, and contacted the immigration court within a week to inquire about her in absentia hearing. The court found that the applicant’s statements of non-receipt of the hearing notice were entitled to credibility in the absence of contrary evidence.
The full text of Perez-Portillo v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/12/30/20-73486.pdf
The Eighth Circuit has determined that in 2003, Missouri’s definition of cocaine included isomers not encompassed by the current federal definition. “Because Missouri’s definition of cocaine included positional isomers while the federal definition does not, the Missouri definition is unambiguously broader than its federal counterpart. Moreover, Missouri courts have interpreted the Missouri drug schedule as making all isomers of cocaine illegal.”
The full text of US v. Myers can be found here:
The Eighth Circuit has determined that the Board provided insufficient reasoning for reversing the grant of CAT protection to an applicant with an IQ of 55 who had been threatened with death by gang members in El Salvador.
The full text of Alvarez-Gomez v. Garland can be found here:
The Fifth Circuit has upheld the application of the persecutor bar to an Eritrean applicant who guarded prisoners who were detained for being perceived political traitors, knew these prisoners faced long imprisonment or death, and still impeded their escape.
The full text of Gebrgzabher v. Garland can be found here:
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/21/21-60223-CV0.pdf
Sabrina Damast and her colleague, Eric Lee, discuss the doctrine of consular nonreviewability and the recent Ninth Circuit decision in Munoz v. Department of State:
https://thinkimmigration.org/blog/2022/12/20/the-doctrine-of-consular-nonreviewability-explained/
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti for an additional 18 months and redesignated Haiti as a TPS country. Haitians present in the United States since November 6, 2022 are eligible to apply for TPS.
The USCIS announcement can be found here:
The California Court of Appeals, Fourth District has applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel to a second motion to vacate under Penal Code section 1473.7. The court noted that the appeal of the first motion applied the newer 2019 standard for relief, and the petitioner did not appeal that determination further.
The full text of People v. DeMontoy can be found here:
The Board of Immigration Appeals has determined that “[t]he respondent’s resemblance to the person the officers were seeking to arrest, and his presence in the same location where this person resided, are reasonable, articulable, objective facts justifying a brief, investigatory stop of the respondent to determine if he was the subject for whom they were searching.” “After the officers asked for identification and the respondent’s son produced a foreign identification document and the respondent stated he had no identification, the facts supported the ICE officers’ continued suspicion and justified reasonably extending the length of the stop.”
The full text of Matter of Mariscal-Hernandez can be found here:
https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1556836/download
The Ninth Circuit has determined that a District Court has no jurisdiction to stay removal of a non-citizen who has a motion to reopen pending with the Board of Immigration Appeals.
“Matias asserts that applying the plain text of § 1252(g) and refusing to enter a stay of removal pending the resolution of his motion to reopen would deprive a noncitizen [of] his statutory right to file a motion to reopen. But that’s not true. Matias’s motion to reopen has already been filed, and is currently pending before the BIA. Once the BIA decides that motion, Matias will be able to file a petition for our court to review that final agency action—including review of the BIA’s denial of his request for a stay of removal pending its decision. Matias has taken full advantage of his statutory rights and will continue to have access to the process guaranteed to him under the statute even if he is removed.”
The court further determined that “the Suspension Clause does not preserve judicial review in this case because only an extreme and unwarranted expansion of the habeas writ would encompass Matias’s requested relief.”
The full text of Matias Rauda v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/12/12/21-16062.pdf
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc has determined that that the terms “child abuse” and “child neglect” are ambiguous. The Court deferred to the e Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) interpretation that the phrase “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” can include offenses that involve a mens rea of criminal negligence and acts or circumstances that create a substantial risk of harm to a child’s health or welfare, rather than causing an actual injury to the child. The Court also deferred to the BIA’s treatment of this phrase as a unitary category of crimes against children.
The court then proceeded to analyze the elements of Penal Code 273a(a). The least of the acts criminalized by the fourth branch of the statute requires proof that a defendant (1) had care of custody of a child, whether or not a parent or legal guardian; and (2) with criminal negligence, meaning in a manner that a reasonable person would have known creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury; (3) purposely put the child into an abusive situation in which the probability of serious injury was great.
The BIA defines the generic federal offense of “child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” to include the element of a mens rea of criminal negligence (a match to the second element of a section 273a(a) conviction), and the element of allowing a child to be placed in a situation that create a substantial risk of harm to a child’s health or welfare (a match to the third element of a section 273a(a) conviction).
The full text of Diaz Rodriguez v. Garland can be found here: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/12/08/13-73719.pdf