Efagene v. Holder, Jr, No. 10-9546 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner Francis Efagene petitioned the court for review of a final order issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Petitioner was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1991. In 2005, Petitioner plead guilty to a sexual misconduct misdemeanor in the State of Colorado, and was sentenced to 364 days’ imprisonment. Part of his sentence required that he register as a sex offender for a ten year period. Petitioner served his time. In 2007, he failed, however, to meet the registration deadline and was rearrested. He plead guilty to the misdemeanor of failure-to-register as a sex offender and was sentenced to thirty days’ imprisonment. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged Petitioner as “removable” for having been convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude. Petitioner challenged his removability status before an Immigration Judge (IJ), arguing that failing to register is not a crime of moral turpitude. The IJ disagreed and ordered Petitioner to be deported. In an unpublished order, the BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision and dismissed Petitioner’s appeal. The Tenth Circuit stayed Petitioner’s case and found upon later review that the BIA’s lacked jurisdictional authority to interpret the State of Colorado’s misdemeanor failure-to-register statute as one involving “moral turpitude.” The Court reversed the BIA’s decision and vacated Petitioner’s deportation order.
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