Opinion ID: 758325
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Guillermo Mojica

Text: 13 Guillermo Mojica, a citizen of Colombia, has been a LPR of the United States since 1972. His wife is a naturalized citizen, and his two children have citizenship by virtue of their birth in this country. Mojica was charged in 1988 with conspiracy to distribute cocaine in violation of federal law. He pled guilty, was sentenced to one year in prison, and, on completion of his term in early 1990, was released. 14 In January, 1996, while returning from a brief trip to Ecuador to visit family, Mojica disclosed his conviction to border officials. He was detained overnight at John F. Kennedy International Airport and paroled into the country the next morning. The INS seized his passport and green card and told him to report to the INS on February 12, 1996. On May 29, 1996, the INS officially admitted him into the country, but immediately thereafter began deportation proceedings against him. 5 Mojica was taken into INS custody and transferred from New York to the INS holding facility in Oakdale, Louisiana on June 5, 1996. 15 Mojica's next appearance before an IJ was on July 5, 1996, in Louisiana. His attorney in New York appeared by telephone from Brooklyn and requested a change of venue to New York, which was denied. The case was adjourned until August 2, 1996, when Mojica conceded deportability and requested a § 212(c) waiver. On that same date, the IJ denied relief on the grounds that Mojica was statutorily ineligible for such relief because of § 440(d) of the AEDPA, and ordered him deported. Mojica appealed to the BIA, and lost. 16 Released on bond on October 21, 1996, Mojica, with the INS's permission, returned home to New York. He then filed a habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on March 4, 1997. The next day, the INS ordered him to surrender to their agents in Oakdale, Louisiana, which he did. 17 Mojica's case was consolidated with the case of Saul Navas before Judge Weinstein, who granted Mojica's habeas petition. See Mojica, 970 F.Supp. at 182. The INS appealed.