Guzman v. Holder

340 F. App'x 679
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided July 9, 2009·No. No. 08-2544-ag·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

We hereby WITHDRAW and VACATE our previous opinion in this case and issue this summary order in its place.

Petitioner appeals the BIA’s denial of cancellation of removal and finding of re-movability. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts of the case, its procedural history, and the scope of the issues on appeal.

When the Government appealed the IJ’s cancellation of removal to the BIA, Petitioner argued to the BIA that he was not removable at all. The BIA never addressed this argument. On appeal to us, Petitioner raises the argument again. Petitioner was found removable, pursuant to INA § 237(a)(2)(E)®, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)®, for having been convicted of a “crime of child abuse.” The basis for that finding was Petitioner’s New York state conviction for endangering the welfare of a minor in violation of New York Penal Law § 260.10.

I. Legal Standard

In deciding whether one was “convicted” of a crime listed in the INA, we have followed the Supreme Court in adopting a “categorical approach.” See, e.g., Martinez v. Mukasey, 551 F.3d 113 (2d Cir.2008). Under this approach, “the singular circumstances of an individual petitioner’s crimes should not be considered, and only the minimum criminal conduct necessary to sustain a conviction under a given statute is relevant,” Id. at 118.

II. Discussion

N.Y. Penal Law § 260.10 states, in pertinent part, that “[a] person is guilty of [681] endangering the welfare of a child when ... [h]e knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than seventeen years old or directs or authorizes such child to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his life or health.” As New York’s highest court has interpreted it, the statute is broad in three different ways. First, N.Y. Penal Law § 260.10 covers conduct that did not itself harm a child but merely created a “likelihood” of harm. People v. Johnson, 95 N.Y.2d 368, 718 N.Y.S.2d 1, 740 N.E.2d 1075, 1076 (2000). Second, the prohibited conduct does not have to be directed at a child but may merely be undertaken with an awareness that “the conduct may likely result in harm to a child, whether directed at the child or not.” Id. Third, “a defendant may be guilty of this crime by virtue of a series of acts, none of which may be enough by itself to constitute the offense, but each of which when combined make out the crime.” People v. Keindl, 68 N.Y.2d 410, 509 N.Y.S.2d 790, 502 N.E.2d 577, 582 (1986).

A wide variety of conduct violates N.Y. Penal Law § 260.10. New York’s highest court has held, for example, that the provision applies to the assault of a mother in front of her children, Johnson, 95 N.Y.2d 368, 718 N.Y.S.2d 1, 740 N.E.2d 1075; and also to the possession of a large number of firearms and ammunition in easy reach of a child known to have played with the guns, People v. Hitchcock, 98 N.Y.2d 586, 750 N.Y.S.2d 580, 780 N.E.2d 181 (2002). Lower courts in New York have found actual or attempted violations of § 260.10 where a defendant smoked marijuana in his home in the presence of children, People v. Alvarez, 20 Misc.3d 606, 860 N.Y.S.2d 745 (N.Y.Crim.Ct.2008); where a defendant sold fireworks to a child, People v. Suquisupa, 167 Misc.2d 109, 637 N.Y.S.2d 302 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1996); where a defendant left a seven-year-old alone in a locked apartment for two-and-one-half hours, People v. Watson, 182 Misc.2d 644, 700 N.Y.S.2d 651 (N.Y.Crim.Ct.1999); where a school bus attendant failed to awaken a child who had fallen asleep and remove him from the bus when it reached the school, People v. Afia, 17 Misc.3d 734, 843 N.Y.S.2d 906 (N.Y.Crim.Ct.2007); where a father drove drunk with his son in the vehicle, People v. D'Ambrosia, 192 Misc.2d 560, 746 N.Y.S.2d 556 (N.Y.Just.Ct.2002); where defendants lived with their children in filthy, garbage-filled households, People v. Manon, 226 A.D.2d 774, 640 N.Y.S.2d 318 (N.Y.App.Div.1996); People v. Ambers, 17 Misc.3d 278, 840 N.Y.S.2d 533 (N.Y.Crim.Ct.2007); and where a mother left her two young children unsupervised in an automobile for over two hours, People v. Cenat, 176 Misc.2d 39, 671 N.Y.S.2d 578 (N.Y.Crim.Ct.1997).

The question under the categorical approach is whether the minimal conduct encompassed by a conviction under N.Y. Penal Law § 260.10 constitutes a “crime of child abuse,” under the INA. That term, listed in INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), is entirely a creature of the INA, and we therefore give the BIA’s interpretation of “crime of child abuse” Chevron deference. See INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, 526 U.S. 415, 424-33, 119 S.Ct. 1439, 143 L.Ed.2d 590 (1999); Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 844, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984); Abimbola v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 173, 176 (2d Cir.2004) (employing Chevron deference to the BIA’s interpretation of the term “theft offense” where the term “is not cross-referenced to any other federal criminal statute”).

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