Opinion ID: 1466655
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The government's motion to remand

Text: The government has argued that this case should be remanded in order for the BIA to apply recent decisions that have refined the BIA's approach to treating state drug-possession offenses as aggravated felonies. Specifically, the government cites Matter of Carachuri-Rosendo, 24 I. & N. Dec. 382 (BIA 2007), and Matter of Thomas, 24 I. & N. Dec. 416 (BIA 2007). In Carachuri-Rosendo, the BIA explicitly concluded that absent controlling [circuit] authority regarding the recidivist possession issue, an alien's State conviction for simple possession of a controlled substance will not be considered an aggravated felony conviction on the basis of recidivism unless the alien's status as a recidivist drug offender was either admitted by the alien or determined by a judge or jury in connection with a prosecution for that simple possession offense. 24 I. & N. Dec. at 394. The BIA applied Carachuri-Rosendo in Thomas and concluded that because the Eleventh Circuit did not have any controlling precedent with respect to the recidivist-possession issue, the BIA had to determine whether there was proof that the immigrant had either admitted his status as a recidivist drug offender or whether his status as such had been determined by a judge or jury. 24 I. & N. Dec. at 421. At the time the BIA issued its opinion in Carachuri-Rosendo, however, it noted that seven circuits, including the Sixth Circuit, have issued precedents deciding whether, and under what circumstances, a State offense of simple possession of a controlled substance qualifies as an aggravated felony based on its correspondence to the Federal felony of `recidivist possession.' 24 I. & N. at 385. Notably, the Eleventh Circuit was not among the seven circuits identified by the BIA. The decision in Thomas is thus not applicable to Rashid's case, given the BIA's reliance on United States v. Palacios-Suarez, 418 F.3d 692 (6th Cir.2005), discussed in detail below, as the controlling Sixth Circuit precedent on this issue. Rashid in fact points out that even after the decision in Carachuri-Rosendo, the BIA has issued conflicting decisions as to its interpretation of Palacios-Suarez. He first cites Matter of Escot-Miranda, File No. A45 123 036, 2008 WL 1734648 (BIA Mar. 24, 2008), where the BIA concluded that the Sixth Circuit is agnostic on [the] central question of whether a State simple possession offense that otherwise conforms to the requirements of 21 U.S.C. § 844(a) but that was not prosecuted under State recidivism laws can be treated as a `counterpart' of the Federal felony of recidivist possession. Rashid then notes that only five days prior to the decision in Escot-Miranda, the BIA concluded in Matter of Guzman-Gonzalez, File No. A43 746 142 (BIA Mar. 19, 2008), that [i]n order for a second misdemeanor drug possession conviction to qualify as an aggravated felony in the Sixth Circuit[,] ... controlling precedent only requires that the conviction occur after a first such conviction becomes final. This causes considerable uncertainty as to what result the BIA would reach if Rashid's case were remanded to it for an opportunity to apply its recent Carachuri-Rosendo approach to our Palacios-Suarez decision. Moreover, although this case presents an issue that will impact both immigration law and criminal-sentencing law, this court has previously addressed the overlap between the two in this very context and decline[d] to adopt separate interpretations of the same phrase for the immigration and sentencing cases. Palacios-Suarez, 418 F.3d at 697. Given that Carachuri-Rosendo dictates deference to circuit precedent, and given the BIA's apparent uncertainty about the existence of such precedent in this circuit, Rashid's case presents us with the opportunity to explicitly define our approach to the treatment of multiple state drug-possession offenses as a potential aggravated felony under the INA. We therefore deny the government's request for a remand and turn to the merits of Rashid's argument.