Raul Quijada Coronado v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Raul Quijada Coronado v. Eric Holder, Jr.. Read the opinion of the Court — 747 F.3d 662
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided July 18, 2014·No. 11-72121·Published

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

RAUL QUIJADA CORONADO, No. 11-72121 Petitioner, Agency No. v. A012-632-641

ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General, ORDER AND Respondent. AMENDED OPINION

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Argued and Submitted July 8, 2013—Pasadena, California

Filed March 14, 2014 Amended July 18, 2014

Before: Fortunato P. Benavides,* Jay S. Bybee, and Jacqueline H. Nguyen, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Nguyen

* The Honorable Fortunato P. Benavides, Senior Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting by designation.

SUMMARY**

Immigration

The panel amended its opinion filed on March 14, 2014, and denied in part, granted in part, remanded in part and dismissed in part Raul Quijada Coronado’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision finding him inadmissible and denying cancellation of removal.

The panel held that the BIA did not err in finding Coronado inadmissible based on his conviction for possessing methamphetamine, in violation of California Health & Safety Code § 11377(a). The panel held that § 11377(a) is a divisible statute under Descamps v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2276 (2013), and in applying the modified categorical approach found that Coronado was convicted of possessing a controlled substance listed in the Federal Controlled Substances Act. The panel also held that the BIA failed to address Coronado’s due process claims alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and bias by the immigration judge, and remanded to the BIA for consideration of those claims in the first instance.

The panel dismissed for lack of jurisdiction Coronado’s claim that the BIA violated his right to equal protection because detained aliens like himself, unlike non-detained aliens, are barred from establishing genuine rehabilitation, generally required for a grant of cancellation. The panel found that Coronado’s argument was merely an attempt to

** This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. CORONADO V. HOLDER 3

contest the weight the BIA assigned to his sobriety while in detention, one of many factors the BIA considered in making its non-reviewable discretionary determination.

COUNSEL

Bradley J. Hamburger (argued), Theane Evangelis Kapur, and Brandon S. Dimond, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles, California, for Petitioner.

Jessica R. C. Malloy (argued), Trial Attorney; Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General; Paul Fiorino, Senior Litigation Counsel; and Katherine A. Smith, Trial Attorney, United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., for Respondent.

ORDER

The opinion filed on March 14, 2014, and appearing at 747 F.3d 662, is amended. The superseding amended opinion is filed concurrently with this order.

With these amendments, the panel has voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing. Judge Bybee and Judge Nguyen have voted to deny the petition for rehearing en banc, and Judge Benavides has so recommended. The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge of the court has requested a vote on en banc rehearing. See Fed. R. App. P. 35(f).

The petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc is DENIED. No further petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc will be entertained.

OPINION

NGUYEN, Circuit Judge:

Raul Quijada Coronado petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision finding him inadmissible and denying his application for cancellation of removal. Coronado argues that the BIA erred in concluding that he had suffered two prior convictions for possession of a controlled substance prohibited under the Federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), 21 U.S.C. § 802. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II). Coronado further argues that the BIA erred in failing to address his constitutional claims.

We hold that the statute under which Coronado was convicted, California Health & Safety Code § 11377(a), is a divisible statute, and thus, we apply the modified categorical approach in analyzing Coronado’s prior convictions. See Descamps v. United States, — U.S. —, 133 S. Ct. 2276, 2281 (2013) (stating that the modified categorical approach applies only to prior convictions under a “divisible” statute, one that “sets out one or more elements of the offense in the alternative”). Under that approach, the government satisfied its burden of proving that Coronado was twice convicted of possessing methamphetamine, a controlled substance listed in the CSA. Therefore, the BIA did not err in finding Coronado inadmissible based on his prior convictions. CORONADO V. HOLDER 5

However, because the BIA failed to address Coronado’s due process claims, which allege ineffective assistance of counsel and bias by the immigration judge (“IJ”), we remand to the BIA for consideration of these claims in the first instance. We dismiss Coronado’s unexhausted equal protection claim for lack of jurisdiction.

Background

I

Coronado, a native and citizen of Mexico, became a legal permanent resident of the United States in 1961. In 1998, he was charged in state court with possession of methamphetamine in violation of California Health & Safety Code § 11377(a). According to the state court’s certified electronic docket in Case No. 8LC01036, he pleaded guilty to “Count (01),” the only charge in the criminal complaint. In December 2006, the court entered judgment against Coronado “as to Count (01)” (the “2006 Conviction”).

On September 15, 2008, Coronado applied for admission to the United States after making a trip to Mexico. Upon checking his criminal records, Border Patrol officers learned of the 2006 Conviction. On that same day, Coronado was paroled into the United States, and the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) served him with a Notice to Appear. In May 2009, DHS served him with a Form I-261, which alleged, among other things, that Coronado was subject to removal due to his conviction in 2006 for possession of methamphetamine.

In December 2009, while in removal proceedings, Coronado was again charged in state court with possession of

methamphetamine in violation of California Health & Safety Code § 11377(a). According to the court minutes in Case No. JCF24680, on March 23, 2010, Coronado pleaded guilty to “Count 1: HS11377(A),” the only charge in the criminal complaint (the “2010 Conviction”).

II

A

During his removal proceedings, Coronado denied having been convicted of methamphetamine possession. To prove the 2006 Conviction, the government submitted the criminal complaint and the certified electronic docket of that case. Further, to prove the 2010 Conviction, the government submitted documents that included the criminal complaint and the court minutes of that case.

The IJ found Coronado inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II) due to his convictions for possession of a controlled substance listed in the CSA. Further, after weighing the relevant factors, the IJ denied Coronado’s application for cancellation of removal.

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