Case Law Updates

Collaboration between AILA Central Florida and AILA Georgia-Alabama brings you Federal Court Summaries Part 2.

Published on: October 9, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Over the last few months I had the opportunity to work with some fantastic immigration attorneys across the Southeast United States on a collaborative project. Our goal was to find, review and summarize every immigration-related and useful District Court and Circuit Court Case from the Eleventh Circuit and put them together in a newsletter. This was an enjoyable and educational experience. We expect to send out this newsletter every quarter and it will contain published and unpublished District Court cases from Florida, Alabama and Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

This would not be possible without the hard work of our multi-state team composed of Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Bruce Buchanan and myself, John Gihon. Here is an excerpt of the 11th Circuit Cases. If anyone reading this newsletter has any suggestions, please contact me at John@slgattorneys.com or our editor, Bruce Buchanan at bbuchanan@visalaw.com

11th Circuit Decisions (September)

Collaboration between AILA Central Florida and AILA Georgia-Alabama brings you Federal Court Summaries Part 1.

Published on: October 7, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Over the last few months I had the opportunity to work with some fantastic immigration attorneys across the Southeast United States on a collaborative project. Our goal was to find, review and summarize every immigration-related and useful District Court and Circuit Court Case from the Eleventh Circuit and put them together in a newsletter. This was an enjoyable and educational experience. We expect to send out this newsletter every quarter and it will contain published and unpublished District Court cases from Florida, Alabama and Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

This would not be possible without the hard work of our multi-state team composed of Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Bruce Buchanan and myself, John Gihon. Here is an excerpt of the 11th Circuit Cases. If anyone reading this newsletter has any suggestions, please contact me at John@slgattorneys.com or our editor, Bruce Buchanan at bbuchanan@visalaw.com

11th Circuit Decisions (June through August)

Summaries of Recent Publish Board of Immigration Appeals Decisions

Published on: September 14, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Matter of D-M-C-P-, 26 I&N Dec. 644 (BIA 2015); The Board decided that neither the Board, nor the Immigration Courts have jurisdiction to determine if a respondent was properly placed into Asylum-Only Proceedings pursuant to INA § 217. Once an immigration officer determined that an alien was subject to removal as a visa waiver violator, the only issue the Immigration Court or the Board could review is whether the alien qualified for asylum or withholding or deferral of removal. In addition, the Immigration Judge cannot dismiss properly-filed applications for relief from removal due to an alien’s failure to comply with the biometrics requirement pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.47(c), (d), unless the respondent was advised of the biometrics requirement, provided a deadline for complying and advised of the consequences for failing to comply.

Matter of M-A-F- et al., 26 I&N Dec. 651 (BIA 2015); The Board held that where a respondent has filed a second or substantially amended asylum application, it will be considered a new application, and the filing date of the later application is operative for determining if the provisions of the REAL ID Act of 2005 apply and if an asylum applicant has met the one-year filing deadline. The Court will conduct a case-by-case factual analysis to make this determination, however a second or amended asylum application that raises a new basis for asylum or amends a prior fraudulent application will be considered a new application rather than an amendment of the old one.

Matter of R-K-K-, 26 I&N Dec. 658 (BIA 2015); The Board held that an Immigration Judge may rely on documents and statements from another asylum case while making an adverse credibility determination. The Department may provide applications and evidence from another case in order to impeach the credibility of an applicant. The Immigration Judge may then rely on the similarities between the evidence in the two different cases to make an adverse credibility finding, so long as the Court: 1) gives the applicant meaningful notice of the similarities that are considered to be significant; 2) gives the applicant a reasonable opportunity to explain the similarities; and 3) considers the totality of the circumstances when making the credibility finding.

Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Immigration

Published on: August 3, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Below is my summary of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on Immigration. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments about the cases, my interpretations thereof or if you need my legal assistance.

Recent Published U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Immigration:

Mellouli v. Lynch, 575 U.S. _____ (2015);

Recent Published Board of Immigration Appeals Decisions

Published on: July 30, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Below is my summary of the recent Board of Immigration Appeals decisions. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments about the cases, my interpretations thereof or if you need my legal assistance.

Matter of Agour, 26 I&N Dec. 566 (BIA 2015); In a potentially huge decision, the Board held that an immigrant who adjusted their status while in the United States can qualify for an INA § 237(a)(1)(H) fraud waiver. The Board had previously held that only those immigrants who were admitted from abroad (consular processed) and met the other statutory requirements were eligible for this rare and oft-overlooked waiver. This decision appears to pave the way for otherwise-admissible immigrants who committed fraud or a material misrepresentation during adjustment (i.e. marriage fraud) to obtain this waiver to maintain status and avoid removal.

Matter of Z-Z-O-, 26 I&N Dec. 586 (BIA 2015); The Board held that an Immigration Judge’s determination of future events in the context of an asylum case, is a finding of fact and subject to a clearly erroneous standard of review. The Board also held that whether an applicant has a objectively reasonable fear of future persecution is a legal determination and subject to a de novo standard of review.

LEGAL UPDATE ON FLORIDA CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE CONVICTIONS AND THEIR IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES-PART TWO

Published on: June 24, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

During the last few years, many federal courts have set their sites on Florida statutes that regulate controlled substances. The U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Board of Immigration Appeals have all handed down decisions that have a direct effect on the immigration consequences of convictions in Florida for a variety of controlled substance offenses.

In this second part of my multi-part blog, I will analyze two decision from the Board of Immigration Appeals, one published and one not, that provide a great guide for removability as it relates to Fla. Stat. § 893.13(1), sale, manufacture, delivery, and possession with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, and § 893.135, trafficking in a controlled substance.

If you remember from my first blog in this series, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the Donawa decision left open the possibility that a conviction for sale, manufacture, delivery, possession with intent or trafficking could still be an aggravated felony. The Board of Immigration Appeals answered that question in Matter of L-G-H-, 26 I&N Dec. 365 (BIA 2014). The Board went even further in limiting the negative immigration consequences for a conviction under §§ 893.13(1) and 893.135 in an unpublished case known as Matter of M-B-, (BIA Sept 25, 2014).

LEGAL UPDATE ON FLORIDA CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE CONVICTIONS AND THEIR IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES-PART ONE

Published on: June 19, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

During the last few years, many federal courts have set their sites on Florida statutes that regulate controlled substances. The U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Board of Immigration Appeals have all handed down decisions that have a direct effect on the immigration consequences of convictions in Florida for a variety of controlled substance offenses.

These decisions will effect the potential immigration consequences for Fla. Stat. § 893.13(6), simple possession of a controlled substance, § 893.13(1), sale, manufacture, delivery, and possession with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, § 893.135, trafficking in a controlled substance, § 893.13(3), delivery of cannabis without consideration and less than 20 grams, and § 893.147, possession of drug paraphernalia.

In this first part of a multi-part blog, I will analyze the history and current state of the federal immigration laws as they relate to non-citizens convicted of controlled substance offenses in Florida.

What happens when a Criminal Defense Attorney does not know Immigration Law?

Published on: June 10, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

A criminal defense attorney who does not know immigration law can end up getting their non-U.S. citizen clients deported. But that is just the beginning. Having a former criminal client who gets deported and blames the defense attorney leads to bar complaints, bad online reviews, bad word of mouth and worse, 3.850 motions for ineffective assistance of counsel that can be a waste of time, money and embarrassing for criminal defense attorneys. So what are a non-U.S. citizen client and their criminal defense attorney to do to try and avoid all of these negative results? Consult with an experienced immigration attorney as soon as possible during the criminal case!

The Supreme Courts of the U.S. and of Florida have ruled that non-U.S. Citizen criminal defendants have a Constitutional right to have their criminal defense attorneys properly advise them of the truly clear immigration consequences of entering a plea in a criminal case. Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010); Hernandez v. State, 124 So. 3d 757 (Fla. 2012). The Florida Supreme Court has also said that a Judge cannot cure the prejudice that results from a criminal defense attorney’s failure to properly research and advise their non-U.S. citizen clients on the immigration consequences of their convictions. Hernandez, 124 So.3d at 763.

So a Judge cannot protect non-U.S. citizen defendant’s immigration rights, that leaves it up to the criminal defense attorney to do their Constitutionally-mandated duty to discover the immigration consequences of their clients’ convictions. Herein lies the problem, immigration law, especially crimmigration (the intersection of criminal and immigration law) is a constantly changing, ever-evolving beast that requires constant study and practice to stay on top of. An attorney who devotes their practice to criminal defense cannot also be expected to learn every nuisance of crimmigration jurisprudence and stay current with the new developments that happen on an almost-weekly basis.

Recent Crimmigration Decisions can Affect Every Non-U.S. Citizen Accused of a Crime in Florida

Published on: June 9, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

In the past couple of weeks, multiple courts, including the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and even the U.S. Supreme Court have issued decisions which will have an effect on thousands of non-U.S. citizens facing criminal prosecutions in Florida. Non-citizens in criminal court face not only the prospects of jail, prison, probation and a loss of civil rights, but also of the possibility of being deported or never being able to obtain the U.S. citizenship. Crimmigration is the area of law that helps to protect non-citizens’ immigration status in criminal court and to defend non-citizens facing deportation for their criminal histories. Here are some of the recent crimmigration decisions that will come into play for Florida non-citizen criminal defendants.

In Matter of Francisco-Alonzo, 26 I&N Dec. 594 (BIA 2015) the Board held that Fla. Stat. § 784.041(1) (felony battery) is categorically a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(b). The Board confirmed that when analyzing a criminal statute to determine if it is a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(b), the Board uses an “ordinary case” not “minimum conduct” analysis. The Board distinguished cases analyzed under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a) (element-based) which uses a minimum conduct approach. The proper inquiry is whether the conduct encompassed by the elements of the offense presents a substantial risk that physical force may be used in the course of committing the offense in the “ordinary case.”

In U.S. v. Keelan, No 13-11878 (11th Cir. 2015), a very similar decision to the Board’s holding in Matter of Francisco-Alonzo, the Eleventh Circuit held that when analyzing a criminal statute to determine if it is a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(b) the Board uses an “ordinary case” analysis. Of importance in Keelan is that the Court noted that in cases involving sex crimes against minors there is always a substantial risk that physical force will be used, therefore supporting a finding that any crime involving sex abuse of a minor is likely to be a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(b).

U.S. Supreme Court rules that a conviction for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia may no longer make your Deportable.

Published on: June 3, 2015 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

In a long-awaiting ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court this week issued its decision in the case of Mellouli v. Lynch, 575 U.S. ____ (2015). This is the infamous case I blogged about months ago asking “When can a sock get you deported?”

https://www.floridaimmigrationlawyerblog.com/2015/02/when_can_a_sock_get_your_depor.html

The Supreme Court decided that the Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit were both wrong and in the case of Mr. Mellouli, his sock will not subject him to deportation.