Perez-Palafox v. Holder, No. 11-71201 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePetitioner sought review of the BIA's decision to vacate the withholding of removal relief granted to him by the IJ. The BIA concluded that petitioner was not eligible for withholding of removal because his conviction for transportation of methamphetamine constituted a particularly serious crime. The court concluded that it had jurisdiction over the petition for review because petitioner raised a legal challenge to the BIA's ruling - whether the BIA engaged in impermissible factfinding. Here, the BIA completely accepted the factual findings made by the IJ and petitioner did not point to any fact found by the IJ that was ignored by the BIA or any fact found by the BIA that was not found by the IJ. The BIA specifically and explicitly stated that it applied the clear error standard and applied the Matter of Frentescu factors to the facts found by the IJ. Accordingly, the court concluded that the BIA did not engage in impermissible factfinding.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel denied Javier Perez-Palafox’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision vacating an Immigration Judge’s grant of withholding of removal based on a finding that petitioner’s conviction constituted a particularly serious crime. The panel held that it had jurisdiction over the issue of law raised by Perez-Palafox—whether the BIA engaged in improper factfinding in determining that he committed a particularly serious crime. The panel held that the BIA did not engage in impermissible factfinding, where it specifically stated that it reviewed the IJ’s factual findings for clear error, applied the Matter of Frentescu, 18 I. & N. Dec. 244 (BIA 1982), factors to the facts found by the IJ, and did not add any facts to those found by the IJ or ignore any facts found by the IJ.
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