Omima Ibrahim Soliman v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

419 F.3d 276, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 17989, 2005 WL 2001121
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedAugust 22, 2005
Docket04-1990
StatusPublished
Cited by98 cases

This text of 419 F.3d 276 (Omima Ibrahim Soliman v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Omima Ibrahim Soliman v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, 419 F.3d 276, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 17989, 2005 WL 2001121 (4th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

Petition for review granted and order of removal vacated by published opinion.

Judge KING wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILLIAMS and Judge GREGORY joined.

OPINION

KING, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Omima Ibrahim Solimán has filed a petition seeking review by this *278 Court of the July 13, 2004, 2004 WL 1739198 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) ordering her removal to Egypt. By our Order of June 21, 2005, we have granted the petition for review and vacated the BIA’s order of removal, in that the BIA’s order was premised on the erroneous determination that Solimán had been previously convicted of an “aggravated felony,” as that term is defined in 8 U.S.C. § llOKaXJSXAMU). 1 This opinion further explains the rulings embodied in our June 21, 2005 Order, and it is filed pursuant thereto.

I.

Solimán is a native of Egypt, and she immigrated to this country on May 31, 1996. On May 20, 2002, Solimán was indicted in Fairfax County, Virginia, for the offense of “Fraudulent Use of a Credit Card,” in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-195, for having represented that she was the holder of a credit card belonging to someone else, without the card holder’s consent, to obtain property in excess of $200. 2 Solimán was convicted on June 10, 2002 and, on October 21, 2002, the court sentenced her to two years of incarceration, all suspended, plus two years of probation.

On December 16, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (the “INS”) issued Solimán a Notice to Appear and initiated removal proceedings against her. The Notice to Appear classified Solimán as removable from this country pursuant to the provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), which gives the Attorney General the authority to deport “[a]ny alien who is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission.” The aggravated felonies subject to this statutory provision are enumerated in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A)-(U). 3 Of importance here, these aggravated felonies include “a theft offense (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary offense for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one year,” § 1101(a)(43)(G) (“Subsection (G)”), and “an offense that ... involves fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000,” § 1101(a)(43)(M)(i) (“Subsection (M)(i)”).

The INS’s Notice to Appear alleged that Soliman’s Virginia conviction for credit card fraud constituted a “theft offense” under Subsection (G). Solimán maintained otherwise, however, asserting that her offense was not a “theft offense” under Subsection (G), but rather a fraud offense, covered by Subsection (M)(i). According *279 to Solimán, the offense for which she was convicted involved less than the $10,000 specified in Subsection (M)(i), and thus is not an aggravated felony and a proper basis for deportation. 4

By decision of January 29, 2004, the Immigration Judge (the “IJ”) rejected each of Soliman’s contentions, agreeing with the INS and concluding that her conviction was for a theft offense under Subsection (G). In so ruling, the IJ defined a “theft offense” as a criminal offense where there is “a criminal intent to deprive the owner of the rights and benefits of ownership.” The IJ reasoned that, because Soli-mán “was not entitled to obtain the property that she did under the statute under which she was convicted,” her crime involved theft within the meaning of Subsection (G).

The BIA affirmed the IJ’s ruling by its Order of July 13, 2004 (the “BIA Order”), from which Soliman’s petition for review emanates. 5 Although the BIA agreed with Solimán that her offense “by its terms, involves fraud,” it nonetheless concluded that the theft and fraud subsections of § 1101(a)(43), spelled out in Subsections (G) and (M)(i), “are not mutually exclusive,” and ruled that “a crime which involves fraud may also involve theft.” BIA Order at 1. “Indeed,” the BIA observed, “the common definition of the term ‘theft’ includes fraud.” Id. (citing Black’s Laiv Dictionary, defining theft as a “popular name for larceny ... [t]he fraudulent taking of personal property belonging to another ... without his consent, with the intent to deprive the owner of the value of the same”). The BIA then defined a “theft offense” as “the unlawful taking of property, whenever there is a criminal intent to deprive the owner of the rights or benefits of ownership, either permanently or less so.” Id. at 2.

In assessing whether Soliman’s conviction was for a theft offense, the BIA applied the “categorical approach” set forth and explained by the Supreme Court in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 598-600, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990) (explaining that court analyzing prior conviction must first look to categorical nature of statute of prior conviction, and then, if necessary, look to certain facts underlying conviction). In so doing, the BIA first concluded that Virginia Code § 18.2-195, under which Solimán was convicted, is not a “categorical” theft statute — in other words, its elements are not the same as the elements of a theft offense under federal law. Looking then to Soli-man’s indictment to determine the particular facts underlying her conviction, the BIA found that the actual conduct underlying her offense was the functional equivalent of a theft offense as the BIA had defined it: “the unlawful taking of property, whenever there is a criminal intent to deprive the owner of the rights of benefits of ownership, either permanently or less so.” BIA Order at 2. Specifically, the BIA concluded that, in Soliman’s prosecution in Fairfax County, there had been an “unlawful taking of property” from the merchant because “[t]he fraud renders the taking unlawful”; further, it found there was “criminal intent to deprive the owner of the rights and benefits of ownership” be *280 cause Solimán had deprived “the card’s true oimer of his or her benefits or rights of ownership.” Id. (emphasis added).

By her petition for review, Solimán has raised a single issue: whether the BIA erred in determining that she was deporta-ble because her Virginia conviction constituted an aggravated felony, i.e., a “theft offense” pursuant to Subsection(G).

II.

As an initial matter, we recognize that our jurisdiction to consider and resolve petitions for review from the decisions of the BIA is limited. Section 1252(a)(2)(C) of Title 8, United States Code, provides that no court has jurisdiction to review any final order of removal against an alien who is removable by reason of having committed a criminal offense.

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Bluebook (online)
419 F.3d 276, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 17989, 2005 WL 2001121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/omima-ibrahim-soliman-v-alberto-r-gonzales-attorney-general-ca4-2005.