Hylton v. Sessions

The Second Circuit granted a petition for review of the BIA's order finding petitioner ineligible for cancellation of removal because his prior state conviction for sale of marijuana in the third degree constituted an aggravated felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The court held that New York Penal Law 221.45 was not punishable as a federal felony by the Controlled Substances Act. Rather, NYPL 221.45 explicitly extends to the distribution of less than an ounce of marijuana without remuneration, and was thus punishable as a federal misdemeanor. Therefore, petitioner's crime of conviction was not categorically an aggravated felony. View "Hylton v. Sessions" on Justia Law