Roberts v. Holder, Jr.

Petitioner, a native and citizen of the Bahamas, sought review of the BIA's decision affirming the IJ's order of removal. The court concluded that petitioner's third-degree assault conviction in Minnesota constituted an aggravated felony. As an aggravated felon, petitioner was statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a)(3). Having held that 8 U.S.C. 1182(h) was susceptible to multiple interpretations, the court deferred to the BIA's reasonable construction that section 1182(h) relief was unavailable for any alien who has been convicted of an aggravated felony after acquiring lawful permanent resident status, without regard to the manner in which such status was acquired. Finally, the court rejected petitioner's equal protection challenge to the BIA's construction of section 1182(h) where disagreements among the courts of appeal, or between an agency and one or more of the courts of appeal, would not by itself create an equal protection violation. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review. View "Roberts v. Holder, Jr." on Justia Law