Lopez Orellana v. Garland "The question presented here is whether the Louisiana accessory-after-the-fact statute, LA.REV. STAT. § 14:25, is a categorical match for the generic federal offense...
USCIS, Sept. 18, 2024 "Effective Sept. 10, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services automatically extended the validity of Permanent Resident Cards (also known as Green Cards) to 36 months...
Singh v. Garland "Petitioner Varinder Singh, a native and citizen of India, seeks rescission of a removal order entered in absentia. We previously granted Singh’s petition because the government...
BIB Daily presents bimonthly PERM practice tips from Ron Wada , member of the Editorial Board for Bender’s Immigration Bulletin and author of the 10+ year series of BALCA review articles, “Shaping...
Castellanos-Ventura v. Garland "Petitioner Bessy Orbelina Castellanos-Ventura, a native and citizen of Honduras, seeks review of an April 19, 2021 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA...
Stankiewicz v. Garland
"In this case, we must decide whether N.J. Stat. § 2C:35-7, which criminalizes distributing a controlled substance on or near school property, is an “aggravated felony,” as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(B). Petitioner Aleksandra Malgorzata Stankiewicz was convicted in 2003 of violating § 2C:35-7. In removal proceedings initiated in 2018, the immigration judge (IJ) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) concluded that Stankiewicz’s § 2C:35-7 conviction was an aggravated felony 2 that made her both removable and ineligible to apply for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a). Stankiewicz now seeks review of that conclusion. Applying the “categorical approach,” we hold that Stankiewicz’s § 2C:35-7 conviction is not an “aggravated felony” under § 1101(a)(43)(B). In particular, we conclude that a state controlled substances conviction is an aggravated felony if it categorically matches any offense in the federal Controlled Substances Act and is a felony subject to a sentence exceeding one year. Here, neither of the parties’ proposed federal analogs—21 U.S.C. § 860, the federal school zone statute, and 21 U.S.C. § 841, the federal controlled substance distribution statute—categorically matches § 2C:35-7. And, § 2C:35-7 is not divisible. We therefore GRANT Stankiewicz’s petition for review, VACATE the agency’s ruling, and REMAND this case to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
[Hats off to Joshua Bardavid and Thomas Massucci! Listen to the oral argument here.]