Background
Hector Fuentes-Ramos, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order. The order affirmed an Immigration Judge’s finding of removability and denied applications for withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, and cancellation of removal and adjustment of status.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed the BIA’s legal conclusions de novo. Regarding cancellation of removal, the court held that the petitioner’s conviction under Oregon Revised Statutes Section one hundred sixty-three point one hundred sixty point one point a and three point c describes a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment. The court rejected arguments relying on State versus Yong and State versus Glaspey, noting that merger analysis differs from divisibility analysis and that the statute does concern harm to children. Regarding the notice to appear, the court held that the lack of hearing date and time information was not a jurisdictional defect because the time-and-place requirement is a claims-processing rule. The court further found that any defect was cured by later notices provided to the petitioner.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that convictions under specific Oregon assault statutes preclude cancellation of removal and clarifies that procedural defects in notice to appear documents do not strip the court of jurisdiction if cured by subsequent notice.