RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b) File Name: 18a0180p.06 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT SHAHZAD RAJA, ┐ Petitioner, │ │ > No. 17-3502 v. │ │ │ JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, Attorney General, │ Respondent. │ ┘ On Petition for Review from the Board of Immigration Appeals; No. A 076 506 882/ Argued: August 9, 2018 Decided and Filed: August 21, 2018 Before: GILMAN and DONALD, Circuit Judges; HOOD, District Judge.* _________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: David B. Thronson, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, East Lansing, Michigan, for Petitioner. Neelam Ihsanullah, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: David B. Thronson, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, East Lansing, Michigan, for Petitioner. Neelam Ihsanullah, Anthony C. Payne, Janette L. Allen, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Shahzad Raja, Chardon, Ohio, pro se. *The Honorable Joseph M. Hood, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, sitting by designation. No. 17-3502 Raja v. Sessions Page 2 _________________ OPINION _________________ RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. Shahzad Raja, a native and citizen of Pakistan, petitions for judicial review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). That decision affirmed an immigration judge’s (IJ’s) determination that Raja was removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II) for a 1996 conviction under Pennsylvania’s controlled-substances statute. Because the Pennsylvania statute under which Raja was convicted is divisible and because the portion of the statute under which he was charged is a categorical match to § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II), we DENY his petition for review. Raja first entered the United States in 1990 without inspection. In February 1996, Raja pleaded guilty in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, to a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, in violation of Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 35, § 780-113(a)(30) (1996), and was sentenced to 3 to 23.5 months’ imprisonment. The charging documents reveal that Raja was stopped in a rental vehicle for a speeding violation in 1995, at which time the arresting officers found 32.5 ounces of marijuana in the trunk. He served 90 days in a Pennsylvania prison and completed approximately 17.5 months of probation. Notwithstanding this conviction, Raja was granted lawful-permanent-resident status in October 1998. In 2007, Raja traveled to Pakistan to visit his family. Upon his return, he was held at JFK International Airport after officials there discovered his prior arrest and conviction. Raja admitted to the conviction and to providing a fraudulent Social Security number to the officers at the time of his 1995 arrest. The Government initiated removal proceedings against Raja based on his violation of Pennsylvania law on the ground that it “relat[ed] to a controlled substance” as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 802. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II). After three hearings, the IJ found Raja removable for a controlled-substance offense. The IJ later found Raja ineligible for a waiver of inadmissibility, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c), because he had never lawfully adjusted to lawful-permanent-resident status due to his prior conviction. In No. 17-3502 ...
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