Perez-Mejia, et al v. Holder, No. 07-70118 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") dismissing an appeal from an order of removal to Mexico. At issue was whether the government failed to meet its burden of proving that petitioner was removable where the BIA and the Immigration Judge ("IJ") were not permitted to rely on his counsel's admissions that he had been previously convicted of possession of cocaine for sale in 1997; whether a criminal docket from his 1997 conviction that was introduced into evidence by the government was sufficient to establish that he was removable where the document did not indicate what substance he possessed for sale; whether the government was estopped from removing him on the basis of his 1997 conviction where it knew about the conviction when it granted him Legal Permanent Resident ("LPR") status in 2003; and whether he was eligible for waiver of inadmissibility where his 1997 conviction predated his admission as an LPR in 2003. The court held that petitioner was removable when he admitted at the pleading stage that he was convicted of cocaine for sale; petitioner relieved the government of its burden of offering evidence to prove that he was removable; the government was not estopped by its error in granting him LPR status from correcting its mistake and ordering his removal, and petitioner's admission to the cocaine offense made him ineligible for a waiver of removability.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on November 23, 2011.
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