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BIA on Aggravated Felony, Conviction, Recidivist Enhancement: Matter of Cuellar-Gomez

July 18, 2012 (1 min read)

Matter of Cuellar-Gomez, ID 3760, 25 I&N Dec. 850 (BIA 2012) - (1) A formal judgment of guilt of an alien entered by a municipal court is a “conviction” under section 101(a)(48)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A) (2006), if the proceedings in which the judgment was entered were genuine criminal proceedings. Matter of Rivera-Valencia, 24 I&N Dec. 484 (BIA 2008), and Matter of Eslamizar, 23 I&N Dec. 684 (BIA 2004), followed.  (2) A Wichita, Kansas, municipal ordinance which recapitulates a Kansas statute prohibiting marijuana possession is a “law or regulation of a State . . . relating to a controlled substance” under section 237(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i) (2006).  (3) Possession of marijuana after a prior municipal ordinance conviction for marijuana possession in violation of former sections 65-4162(a) and (b) of the Kansas Statutes Annotated is an aggravated felony under section 101(a)(43)(B) of the Act by virtue of its correspondence to the Federal felony of “recidivist possession,” 21 U.S.C. § 844 (2006), provided the prior conviction was final when the second offense was committed. Lopez v. Gonzales, 549 U.S. 47 (2006), followed; Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder, 130 S. Ct. 2577 (2010), and Matter of Carachuri-Rosendo, 24 I&N Dec. 382 (BIA 2007), distinguished.