Matter of Soriano
Dec 09, 2013OUTCOME: The BIA denied the Department of Homeland Security's appeal, and my client's Immigration Court Removal Proceedings were terminated!
HUGE VICTORY! After my client spent more than one year in the custody of Immigration & Customs Enforcement ("ICE") at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, the Board of Immigration Appeals ... ("BIA") agreed with us that the Immigration Judge, pursuant to recent U.S. Supreme Court case law and other law, was limited to the Categorical Approach. As such, the Immigration Judge was not permitted to use the Modified Categorical Approach. Accordingly, the Immigration Judge, when analyzing my client's State conviction, was not permitted to look beyond the plain language of the statute when determining whether the State conviction was one of child abuse and one that falls into a specific category of the enumerated Aggravated Felonies. As such, the BIA upheld the Immigration Judge's rulings that we successfully argued at the Trial Court level, denying BOTH charges of removability: (1) that my client's conviction was NOT one involving child abuse; and (2) that my client's conviction was NOT an Aggravated Felony under Immigration Law. Therefore, the BIA denied the Department of Homeland Security's appeal, and my client's Immigration Court Removal Proceedings were terminated, my client did not have to pay any bond, my client was released from the Stewart Immigration Detention Center (after spending more than one year in custody), and my client's status of Legal Permanent Resident was restored!
