Elanith Valansi v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States

278 F.3d 203, 2002 WL 87007
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 23, 2002
Docket00-2293
StatusPublished
Cited by141 cases

This text of 278 F.3d 203 (Elanith Valansi v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elanith Valansi v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States, 278 F.3d 203, 2002 WL 87007 (3d Cir. 2002).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

AMBRO, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Elanith Valansi seeks judicial review of a final order of removal entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA” or “Board”) for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (the “INS” or “Government”). The Board ruled that the petitioner’s conviction for embezzling, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656, in excess of $400,000 in cash and checks from her employer (the First Union National Bank) was an aggravated felony as defined in section 101(a)(43)(M)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (the “INA” or “Act”) (codified as amended at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(M)(i)). It therefore ordered her removed to Israel pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). Valan-si’s petition asks us to vacate the Board’s final order of removal because her conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 656 does not qualify as an aggravated felony authorizing her removal from the United States. For the reasons explained below, we grant the petition for review and vacate the Board’s order.

I. Background Facts and Procedural History

Valansi was born in Israel in 1974. She first came to the United States with her parents and older sister only a month and a half after her birth, and has been a lawful permanent resident in this country since 1990. Valansi’s family settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where she attended elementary and high school and received her high school diploma. She later attended a local community college. Her father, mother, and sister are all lawful permanent residents. Her sister’s son is a United States citizen, and she has two siblings from her father’s prior marriage who are both United States citizens.

From 1992 to 1995, Valansi was employed as a bank teller in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. From 1995 to 1997, she was a bank teller with First Union National Bank (“First Union”) in Eatontown, New Jersey. Prior to 1997, she had never been arrested and had no criminal record. However, on six separate occasions spanning four months in 1997, Valansi embezzled in the aggregate more than $400,000 in cash and checks entrusted to First Union. A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging that, “with intent to injure and defraud the Bank, [Valansi] knowingly and willfully embezzle[d] and purloine[d] ... moneys, funds, credits, and assets belonging to the Bank and intrusted [sic] to her custody and care,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656.

On October 30, 1998, Valansi pled guilty to the six-count indictment in exchange for [206]*206the Government’s agreement not to prosecute her further for any charges that might arise from her embezzlement, and in exchange for a stipulation regarding the federal sentencing guidelines that would apply to her case. During the plea colloquy during which Valansi’s plea was accepted by the Court, the Government set forth the following essential elements of the crime to which she agreed to plead guilty:

First, that at the time of the offense charged, Valansi was an employee of First Union National Bank, which is a national bank.
Second, that she wilfully embezzled money or credits of First Union, or money, funds or assets entrusted to the custody or care of First Union.
Third, that the value of those moneys or assets was in excess of $1,000.
And, lastly, that Valansi acted with the intent to “injure or defraud” the bank.

The Court asked Valansi a series of questions designed to determine whether her criminal conduct conformed to the elements of the offense. It confirmed that she was an employee of First Union and that she “deliberately” removed funds in the amounts charged within the indictment with the intent to “deprive” the bank of those funds. The Court concluded that her conduct violated the elements of the offense under 18 U.S.C. § 656 and accepted Valansi’s guilty plea. On January 22, 1999, Valansi was sentenced under United States Sentencing Guideline § 2B1.1, the Sentencing Guideline for theft offenses, to six months imprisonment followed by five years supervised release, the first six months of which to be served at home under electronic monitoring. She was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $32,260.22 for the cash amounts embezzled.3

Valansi served her prison term. She sought employment in the prison education department and was hired to teach basic literacy and American Sign Language. In January 1999, Valansi became engaged to marry a United States citizen, and the couple planned a May 1999 wedding. On April 24, 1999, the INS served Valansi with a notice to appear for a removal proceeding charging her with removal for committing an aggravated felony as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(M)(i). Va-lansi was taken into INS custody almost immediately after being released from prison.4 She was later released in May 2000 to complete the house arrest portion of her sentence.

On December 7, 1999, an Immigration Judge held that Valansi was removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) as an alien who had been convicted of an aggravated felony. On July 20, 2000, the BIA affirmed. In doing so it rejected Valansi’s argument that • her conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 656 was not an aggravated felony because it was a theft offense with a term of imprisonment of less than one year. It concluded that Valansi’s conviction under § 656 was properly considered an aggravated felony because it was an offense involving fraud or deceit (and not theft) [207]*207that resulted in loss to the victim greater than $10,000.

Valansi filed this petition for review on August 7, 2000. The Government moved to dismiss her petition on September 11, 2000, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and Valansi filed an opposition to this motion on October 2, 2000. By order dated November 1, 2000, our Court referred this motion to a merits panel.5 By letter dated October 20, 2000, Valansi’s attorney notified this Court that she would become eligible for removal on November 7, 2000, but that he had not received notice from the INS expressing an intent to execute the removal order at that time. To preserve the status quo and allow us to make a decision on this case, we granted Valan-si’s motion for stay of removal.

II. Discussion

Valansi’s petition for review is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Christopher Rad v. Attorney General United States
983 F.3d 651 (Third Circuit, 2020)
Andrew Shaw v. Jefferson Sessions III
898 F.3d 448 (Fourth Circuit, 2018)
Ramos v. Attorney General of the United States
683 F. App'x 125 (Third Circuit, 2017)
United States v. Michael Bernick
651 F. App'x 102 (Third Circuit, 2016)
Marco Gonzalez v. Eric Holder, Jr.
570 F. App'x 549 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
Personal Restraint Petition of Juan Pedro Ramos
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014
United States v. Blake Brown, Jr.
740 F.3d 145 (Third Circuit, 2014)
Young v. Holder
697 F.3d 976 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Singh v. Attorney General of the United States
677 F.3d 503 (Third Circuit, 2012)
Ramani Pilla v. Eric Holder, Jr.
458 F. App'x 518 (Sixth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Vann
660 F.3d 771 (Fourth Circuit, 2011)
Shafer v. Attorney General
322 F. App'x 161 (Third Circuit, 2009)
Weatherbee Ex Rel. Vecchio v. Richman
595 F. Supp. 2d 607 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 2009)
Heredia v. Attorney General of United States
299 F. App'x 178 (Third Circuit, 2008)
Thiodoris v. Attorney General
280 F. App'x 231 (Third Circuit, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 F.3d 203, 2002 WL 87007, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elanith-valansi-v-john-ashcroft-attorney-general-of-the-united-states-ca3-2002.