United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 20-1508 ___________________________ Pah Peh, lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner, v. Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General of United States,1 lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent. ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: January 12, 2021 Filed: July 16, 2021 ____________ Before COLLOTON, WOLLMAN, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. ____________ COLLOTON, Circuit Judge. Pah Peh, a native of Thailand and citizen of Burma, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board concluded that he was removable because his prior conviction for enticing a minor under Iowa law was a 1 Attorney General Garland is automatically substituted for his predecessor under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2). “crime of a child abuse.” We conclude that the Board’s decision cannot be upheld on the rationale advanced by the government, and it is unclear whether the Board relied on other grounds, so we vacate the decision and remand for further proceedings. I. Pah Peh has been a lawful permanent resident of the United States since 2009. In 2019, he was convicted after a guilty plea in Iowa state court of “Enticing, under 16 years, illegal act,” in violation of Iowa Code § 710.10(3). The trial information charged that “with the intent to commit sexual abuse or sexual exploitation upon a minor under the age of 13,” Peh “did entice or attempt to entice a child under the age of 13.” See Iowa Code § 710.10(1). Peh pleaded guilty, however, to the lesser offense of “entic[ing] a person reasonably believed to be under the age of sixteen” with the “intent to commit an illegal act upon a minor under the age of sixteen.” Id. § 710.10(3). The judgment does not specify the “illegal act” that Peh was convicted of intending to commit. The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against Peh on the ground that his conviction qualified as a “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). An immigration judge sustained the charge of removability and denied Peh’s requests for relief from removal. The Board affirmed the immigration judge’s determination that the Department had established Peh’s removability under § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i) by clear and convincing evidence. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(3)(A). Peh petitions for review of the Board’s order. He argues that his conviction for enticing a minor in violation of Iowa Code § 710.10(3) is not a conviction for a “crime of child abuse,” and that the Board erred in concluding that he is removable. We review the Board’s legal determination de novo. -2- II. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides than an alien is removable if, at any time after admission, he is convicted of a “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment.” 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). Congress did not define “crime of child abuse,” but the Board has defined the term in a series of precedential decisions, and Peh does not challenge the agency’s definition. See generally INS v. …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals