NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________ Nos. 17-2106 & 19-1767 _____________ PETE JOHNSON, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _____________________ On Petition for Review from the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA-1 No. A028-208-956 Immigration Judge: The Honorable Walter A. Durling _______________________ Argued September 26, 2019 Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, McKEE, and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges (Filed: December 4, 2019) Augustus J. Golden [ARGUED] Covington & Burling 850 10th Street, N.W. One City Center Washington, DC 20001 Counsel for Petitioner Pete Johnson William P. Barr Virginia M. Lum Margaret A. O’Donnell 1 Gregory A. Pennington, Jr. [ARGUED] United States Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation P.O. Box 878 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Counsel for Respondent Attorney General of the United States of America _______________________ OPINION ∗ _______________________ SMITH, Chief Judge. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed Petitioner Pete Johnson’s appeal of an order of removal and denied his motion to reopen proceedings. For the reasons set forth below, we will deny his consolidated petitions for review. I. Johnson, a native and citizen of Liberia, gained admission to this country as a refugee in 1994. He received lawful permanent residency the following year. In April 2015, Johnson pled guilty to manufacturing, delivering, or possessing with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, 35 Pa. Stat. and Cons. Stat. Ann. § 780-113(a)(30), and was sentenced to a maximum of three years of probation. According to the criminal information, the drug involved was heroin. After pleading guilty in February 2016 to two counts of terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another under 18 ∗ This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. 2 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2706(a)(1), Johnson was sentenced to six to twenty-four months in prison. Determining that these convictions constituted aggravated felonies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security served Johnson with a Form I-862, Notice to Appear, charging him as removable. 1 Johnson appeared pro se at his first removal hearing, held on August 24, 2016, in York, PA. At the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) prompting, Johnson acknowledged his drug conviction involving heroin and the terroristic threats convictions. The IJ determined that these were aggravated felonies rendering Johnson deportable. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) (“Any alien who is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission is deportable.”). Although Johnson initially opted to appeal the IJ’s decision, he changed his mind and requested an application for asylum. The IJ stated that the application would be mailed to him shortly. When the IJ held a further hearing on October 12, 2016, Johnson was represented by counsel. The IJ noted that at the prior hearing, he had “sustained the grounds of [Johnson’s] removability based on the evidence of the Government and held it over for, for a 589.” 2 JA 279. The IJ referenced “a 589” several more times as he discussed the need 1 ...
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