Clemente Avelino Pereida v. William P. Barr
Opinion
Clemente Avelino Pereida, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) affirming the Immigration Judge's (IJ) grant of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) motion to pretermit Pereida's cancellation of removal application. Pereida pleaded no contest to a Nebraska criminal attempt charge (
I. BACKGROUND
Pereida is a citizen of Mexico who entered the United States without authorization or inspection in, according to his application for cancellation of removal, approximately 1995. He has thus lived in the United States for an extended period of time and, according to the immigration record, has been gainfully employed, paid taxes and with his wife, raised his family (comprised of their three children) here. On August 3, 2009, DHS issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) charging Pereida with removability. Pereida admitted the factual allegations in the NTA and conceded the charge of removability, but in March 2011 filed an application for Cancellation of Removal and Adjustment of Status pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). In August 2014, DHS filed a Motion to Pretermit Pereida's application asserting that he had been convicted of a CIMT, which is a mandatory bar to his requested relief, given Pereida's no contest plea to a charge of attempted criminal impersonation
The IJ analyzed the substantive crime of criminal impersonation in Nebraska underlying Pereida's criminal attempt charge and held that the statute is divisible; that
*1131
Pereida was necessarily convicted under a subsection requiring the specific intent to defraud, deceive or harm; and thus Pereida's conviction under this statute constituted a CIMT. Having found Pereida's attempted criminal impersonation conviction to be a CIMT, the IJ additionally held that because the conviction was punishable by a maximum term of "not more than one year imprisonment,"
The Board agreed that only three subsections under Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-608 qualified as CIMTs because each contained as a necessary element the intent to defraud or deceive, thus making the statute divisible. Under a modified categorical approach, the Board found no record as to which particular subsection of the statute Pereida was ultimately convicted of violating. This is where the Board ended its analysis. The Board noted that Pereida bore the burden of proving that his particular conviction did not bar relief. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(4). Accordingly, the Board found that Pereida failed to carry his burden of proving that his conviction was not a CIMT, and that he was thus statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal. Pereida petitioned this court for review of the Board's order, claiming that his conviction of attempted criminal impersonation does not fall within the definition of a CIMT. Pereida additionally claims that even if his Nebraska conviction qualifies as a CIMT, it falls within the petty offense exception available under
II. DISCUSSION
We have jurisdiction pursuant to
To be eligible for cancellation of removal, Pereida had to meet four requirements. 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). At issue here is whether, under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(C), Pereida's conviction for attempted criminal impersonation is a CIMT as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in
We first apply the "categorical approach" to determine whether Pereida's conviction qualifies as a CIMT by comparing the elements of that state offense to see if it fits within the generic definition of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Moncrieffe v. Holder
,
The underlying Nebraska offense of criminal impersonation at issue, as it existed at the relevant time, stated:
(1) A person commits the crime of criminal impersonation if he or she: (a) Assumes a false identity and does an act in his or her assumed character with intent to gain a pecuniary benefit for himself, herself, or another or to deceive or harm another; (b) Pretends to be a representative of some person or organization and does an act in his or her pretended capacity with the intent to gain a pecuniary benefit for himself, herself, or another and to deceive or harm another; (c) Carries on any profession, business, or any other occupation without a license, certificate, or other authorization required by law; or (d) Without the authorization or permission of another and with the intent to deceive or harm another: (i) Obtains or records personal identification documents or personal identifying information; and (ii) Accesses or attempts to access the financial resources of another through the use of a personal identification document or personal identifying information for the purpose of obtaining credit, money, goods, services, or any other thing of value.
Reviewing this statute as a whole, there appears to be no disagreement among the parties or each of the reviewing courts to-date that the statute defines crimes that are not categorically CIMTs. Both the IJ and the Board concluded that because three of the subsections of § 28-608 contained as a necessary element the intent to deceive, they qualified as a CIMT. However, because a violation of subsection (c) would not, on its face, require the same mens rea requirement, there was a realistic probability that the statute punished non-turpitudinous conduct as well. We agree. Because this statute is divisible, the inquiry does not end here.
Villatoro v. Holder
,
Having determined that not all crimes proscribed by the Nebraska statute would qualify as a CIMT, we apply a modified categorical approach to this divisible statute.
Mathis v. United States
, --- U.S. ----,
It is a maxim oft repeated that under the INA, the alien bears "the burden of proof to establish that [he] satisfies the applicable eligibility requirements" for cancellation of removal, 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(4)(A)(i), including that he was not "convicted of an offense" that would disqualify him from cancellation of removal, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(C).
Andrade-Zamora
,
Our inability to discern the particular crime for which Pereida was convicted forecloses any substantive discussions advanced by Pereida on appeal. For example, Pereida references case law from sister circuits in support of his argument that his particular offense of attempted criminal impersonation is not a CIMT, pointing out various viewpoints on the theoretical boundaries and legal uncertainty in the arena of defining what, exactly, constitutes (or should constitute) moral turpitude in situations such as this.
See, e.g.
,
Beltran-Tirado v. INS
,
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we deny Pereida's petition for review.
Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-608 was the statute under which Pereida was arrested in July 2009. The statute was revised, effective August 30, 2009, and is currently found at Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-638.
We do note that whether or not there is a determination regarding the applicability of the petty theft exception under
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Clemente Avelino PEREIDA Petitioner v. William P. BARR, Attorney General of the United States Respondent
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published