Justia U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant pled guilty to having been found in the United States after deportation following a felony conviction and was sentenced to 37 months imprisonment followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Almost three years after the completion of defendant's prison sentence, he was arrested for criminal trespass. At issue was whether the district court had jurisdiction to revoke defendant's three-year term of supervised release after his arrest for criminal trespass. The court reasoned that resolution of the issue depended on the date on which defendant was released from imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. 3624(e) and held that defendant was released from imprisonment the moment his administrative detention began, i.e. the moment he was transferred from Bureau of Prisons custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to await deportation. However, because the record was not clear as to the exact date on which defendant was released from imprisonment, the court remanded for further fact-finding in order to determine the exact date on which defendant was released from imprisonment.

Petitioner, a Mexican citizen, appealed the Board of Immigration Appeal's ("BIA") decision affirming removal and ineligibility for cancellation of removal where petitioner voluntarily departed the country after being convicted for illegal entry in 1982 and subsequently reentered the United States illegally. At issue was whether petitioner's voluntary departure under the threat of deportation was the same as a departure under an order of deportation where a voluntary departure did not break continuous residence the way deportation did under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 8 U.S.C. 1255. The court affirmed the BIA's order and held that petitioner's absence was surely caused by the imminence of his deportation, even if deportation proceedings had not yet commenced against him; and therefore, petitioner's voluntary departure in lieu of deportation interrupted his alleged continuous residence as a matter of fact and law.

Petitioner, a Mexican citizen, petitioned for review of the Board of Immigration Appeal's ("BIA")order of removal where he was convicted of illegally transporting aliens. At issue was whether petitioner's decision to take administrative voluntary departure in lieu of deportation, subsequent to his prior conviction in 1982 for illegal entry into the United States, was under threat of deportation and whether voluntary departure under threat of deportation established a break in continuous residence. The court held that it had no jurisdiction to review petitioner's voluntary departure which required a factual determination and that petitioner's voluntary departure in lieu of deportation interrupted his alleged continuous residence. The court also held that there was therefore no compelling indication that the BIA incorrectly concluded that petitioner was ineligible for lawful permanent resident ("LPR") status based on his 1982 voluntary departure and thus he was ineligible for LPR cancellation of removal.