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CA3 on Categorical Approach: Ndungu v. Atty. Gen.

January 13, 2025 (1 min read)

Ndungu v. Atty. Gen.

"By statute, lawfully admitted noncitizens are subject to deportation for committing two or more crimes involving moral turpitude on separate occasions. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii). A lawfully admitted Kenyan national residing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was convicted in 2014 and again in 2019 of felony vehicular fleeing or attempting to elude a pursuing police officer in violation of § 3733(a.2) of Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. On the premise that the offense constituted a crime involving moral turpitude, the Department of Homeland Security charged the Kenyan national with removability based on those two convictions and secured orders of removal from the Immigration Court and from the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Kenyan national petitioned this Court for relief, and on de novo review of the BIA’s final order, we hold that under the categorical approach, one of the felony subsections of the Pennsylvania fleeing-or-eluding statute does not necessarily involve moral turpitude, and therefore, we will grant the petition."

[Hats off to Christopher R. Healy, his team, and many amici!  Watch the oral argument here.]