Background
Hector Fuentes-Ramos, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order affirming an Immigration Judge’s finding of removability. The petitioner sought 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 found that the petitioner’s conviction under Oregon Revised Statutes Section one sixty-three point one six zero one a and three c describes a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment under federal law. The court rejected arguments based on state court merger analysis or victim definitions, noting they do not establish the statute is indivisible or unconcerned with 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 but a claims-processing rule that was cured by later notice.
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.