Natalia Lorena Citron v. U.S. Attorney General
Opinion
*1382 Natalia Cintron petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") decision denying her application for cancellation of removal from the United States and ordering that removal. The BIA concluded that Cintron failed to prove that she had not been convicted of an aggravated felony, which rendered her ineligible for cancellation of removal. In short, the BIA determined that the Florida narcotics statute under which Cintron had been convicted was divisible into separate offenses and, because the record of her conviction was inconclusive regarding which offense she had committed, she could not demonstrate her eligibility for cancellation of removal.
We disagree with the BIA's conclusion. Because the Florida statute under which Cintron was convicted was indivisible and categorically overbroad, a conviction under that statute cannot qualify as an aggravated felony. Cintron's narcotics conviction therefore does not disqualify her from cancellation of removal. We grant her petition and remand to the BIA to reconsider her application. 1
I. BACKGROUND
Cintron is a native and citizen of Argentina and a lawful permanent resident of the United States. In 2009, she pled guilty to violating Florida Statutes § 893.135(1)(c) 1. (2007), which criminalized various narcotics offenses. The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against Cintron, and an immigration judge ordered her removal to Argentina. She appealed this decision to the BIA, which overturned it because the record of her narcotics conviction was inconclusive as to the elements of her crime of conviction. The BIA remanded the case to the immigration judge, and Cintron applied for cancellation of removal. The immigration judge determined that because the record of her conviction remained inconclusive, she failed to prove her crime of conviction was not an "aggravated felony" that would render her ineligible for cancellation of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") § 240A(a)(3). The immigration judge once again ordered her removal. Cintron appealed to BIA, which agreed with the immigration judge that she was ineligible for cancellation of removal because of the Florida conviction.
*1383 The BIA reached two conclusions about Cintron's Florida conviction. First, it determined that although a § 893.135(1)(c) 1. offense was not categorically an aggravated felony, the Florida statute was divisible. That is, the statute listed multiple elements in the alternative, effectively creating several different crimes. Second, the BIA concluded that because Cintron was unable to produce any documentation identifying which of those crimes she committed, she failed to carry her burden of proving that she had never been convicted of an aggravated felony. The BIA dismissed her appeal, and Cintron then filed this petition for review of the BIA's decision.
II. DISCUSSION
Whether Cintron's crime of conviction was an aggravated felony is a question of law that we review
de novo
.
Donawa v. U.S. Att'y Gen.
,
A. We Use a "Categorical Approach" to Determine Whether an Offense Qualifies as an Aggravated Felony Under the INA.
The INA provides that "[t]he Attorney General may cancel removal in the case of an alien who is ... deportable from the United States if the alien ... has not been convicted of any aggravated felony." INA § 240A(a)(3). The INA defines "aggravated felony" to include "illicit trafficking in a controlled substance ... including a drug trafficking crime" as defined in
"When the Government alleges that a state conviction qualifies as an 'aggravated felony' under the INA, we generally employ a 'categorical approach' to determine whether the state offense is comparable to an offense listed in the INA."
Moncrieffe v. Holder
,
If the state statute "lists multiple, alternative elements, and so effectively creates several different crimes," then the statute is "divisible," and we employ the "modified categorical approach ... to determine which alternative formed the basis of the [noncitizen]'s prior conviction."
Descamps v. United States
,
Sometimes, though, what appear in a statute to be alternative elements-" 'constituent parts' of a crime's legal definition" that either must be admitted to by a defendant or found by a fact-finder to sustain a conviction-are instead alternative "means" of committing a single offense.
Mathis
,
B. Florida Statutes § 893.135(1)(c) 1. Is Categorically Overbroad and Indivisible; Thus, Cintron's Conviction Does Not Qualify as an Aggravated Felony Under the INA.
At the time of Cintron's conviction, Florida Statutes § 893.135(1)(c) 1. provided:
Any person who knowingly sells, purchases, manufactures, delivers, or brings into this state, or who is knowingly in actual or constructive possession of, 4 grams or more of any morphine, opium, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, or any salt, derivative, isomer, or salt of an isomer thereof, including heroin, as described in s. 893.03(1)(b), (2)(a), (3)(c)3., or (3)(c)4., or 4 grams or more of any mixture containing any such substance, but less than 30 kilograms of such substance or mixture, commits a felony of the first degree, which felony shall be known as "trafficking in illegal drugs," punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
Both parties agree that a violation of Florida Statutes § 893.135(1)(c) 1. was not categorically an aggravated felony because the least of the acts it criminalized-mere
*1385
possession of a listed narcotic-is not a felony under the CSA.
See
id
.;
see also
To determine whether statutory alternatives are elements or means, we look to authoritative sources of state law.
Mathis
,
If neither the text of the statute nor state decisional law resolves the means-or-elements question, then courts may look to other evidence of state law, including indictments or jury instructions.
Mathis
,
Here, "the statute on its face" strongly suggested indivisibility.
Florida caselaw confirms what the statutory language suggested. The Fifth District Court of Appeal considered whether conspiracy to traffic cocaine required the State to prove that the conspirators (a buyer and a seller) both agreed to commit the same trafficking act-that is, "selling, purchasing, delivering, or possessing."
Hampton v. State
,
Numerous other Florida state court decisions have described § 893.135 in ways that suggest it set forth a single "trafficking" crime that could be committed in a variety of ways.
See, e.g.
,
Palmer v. State
,
Only one case the government cites,
Burson v. State
,
*1387
The government quotes portions of
Burson
that discussed "elements," but these are all found in a single block quotation from
Wright v. State
,
Here, Florida "courts have determined that [the] statutory alternatives [were] mere means of committing a single offense, rather than independent elements of the crime."
Schad
,
C. The Government's Arguments To the Contrary Are Unavailing.
The government argues that Florida decisional law, rather than demonstrating indivisibility, shows that the statute under which Cintron was convicted was divisible. But the government's cited authority largely concerns a different Florida controlled substance statute with a different structure, Florida Statutes § 893.13(1)(a). That statute provides that "a person may not sell, manufacture, or deliver, or possess with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver, a controlled substance." This Court recently held that Florida Statutes § 893.13(1)(a) is divisible,
see
Spaho v. U.S. Att'y Gen.
,
Importantly, unlike § 893.135(1)(c) 1., § 893.13(1)(a) lacks any language indicating that the six methods of commission are to be treated as a single offense. The impact of this textual distinction-which renders § 893.135(1)(c) 1. indivisible and § 893.13(1)(a) divisible-is played out in Florida caselaw. For example, in
Tyler v. State
,
The
Tyler
court also recognized that "[i]n other contexts, the courts have distinguished between different crimes, proscribed by different statutory provisions, and different methods of committing a 'single statutory offense.' "
*1388
The government also contends that Florida's model jury instructions for § 893.135 indicated divisibility, but we think the instructions only echo this distinction we have identified between that statute and § 893.13(1)(a). For § 893.135, the instructions provided: "To prove the crime of Trafficking in Illegal Drugs, the State must prove the following four elements beyond a reasonable doubt."
In re Std. Jury Instr. in Crim. Cases (No. 2005-3)
,
For these reasons, we are unmoved by the government's plea that we construe § 893.135(1)(c) 1. as divisible.
III. CONCLUSION
A plain reading of the statute, aided by the weight of Florida authority, indicates that Florida Statutes § 893.135(1)(c) 1. created a single drug trafficking offense that could be committed by alternative means. Because the jury did not need to agree on the particular method of commission to convict, the statute was indivisible. An indivisible and overbroad statute is categorically not an aggravated felony; thus, Cintron's conviction under the statute does not disqualify her from cancellation of removal.
See
Donawa
,
Cintron filed a motion for reconsideration with the BIA, which it denied also. She petitions this Court to review that denial; however, in light of our decision to grant her initial petition, we dismiss Cintron's second petition as moot.
"Our review is limited to the BIA's decision because it did not expressly adopt the [immigration judge's] decision."
Donawa
,
"
Descamps
addressed the modified categorical approach in the context of punishment under the Armed Career Criminal Act rather than ... the immigration context. The general analytical framework and principles, however, are analogous, and so this Court has routinely imported holdings from one context to the other."
Donawa
,
Shepard v. United States
,
We here discuss the 2007 version of Florida Statutes § 893.135, which was in effect on the date Cintron's offense was committed.
See
Because we hold that the statute under which Cintron was convicted was indivisible, we need not decide the effect of inconclusive
Shepard
documents on a noncitizen's application for cancellation of removal, an issue that our Court has previously acknowledged but not yet decided.
See
Gelin v. U.S. Att'y Gen.
,
The cocaine trafficking statute is structured identically to the statute at issue in this case.
Compare
The model jury instructions further define the first of these "four elements" of "the crime of Trafficking in Illegal Drugs" as:
1. (Defendant) knowingly
[sold]
[purchased]
[manufactured]
[delivered]
[brought into Florida]
[possessed]
a certain substance.
In re
Std. Jury Instr. in Crim. Cases (No. 2005-3)
,
PETITION 15-12344 GRANTED. PETITION 15-14352 DISMISSED AS MOOT.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Natalia Lorena CINTRON, Petitioner, v. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent.
- Cited By
- 16 cases
- Status
- Published