Ricardo Herdocia Jarquin v. Merrick Garland


NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 12 2021 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT RICARDO JOSE HERDOCIA JARQUIN, No. 19-70266 AKA Ricardo Jose Herdocia, Agency No. A028-749-019 Petitioner, v. MEMORANDUM* MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Argued and Submitted March 2, 2021 Portland, Oregon Before: PAEZ and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, and TUNHEIM,** District Judge. Petitioner Ricardo Jose Herdocia Jarquin petitions for review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) finding him removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) because of his conviction under California Penal * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The Honorable John R. Tunheim, Chief United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, sitting by designation. Page 2 of 4 Code § 417.8. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and review de novo whether a conviction under state law constitutes a removable offense. Arellano Hernandez v. Lynch, 831 F.3d 1127, 1130 (9th Cir. 2016). We grant the petition and remand. In 2018, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) ordered Herdocia Jarquin removed as a person who has committed an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), based on his conviction for a crime of violence pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F). A crime of violence is “an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another[.]” 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). The sole ground of removability was Herdocia Jarquin’s 2014 conviction under California Penal Code § 417.8, which makes it a crime to “draw[] or exhibit[] any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or other deadly weapon, with the intent to resist or prevent the arrest or detention of himself or another by a peace officer[.]” The IJ concluded that Herdocia Jarquin’s conviction under California Penal Code § 417.8 also rendered him ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(ii); 1158(b)(2)(B)(i). On appeal to the BIA, Herdocia Jarquin argued that his offense under California Penal Code § 417.8 was not a crime of violence. The BIA discerned no basis to reverse the Immigration Judge’s decision, relying on our opinion in Reyes- Page 3 of 4 Alcaraz v. Ashcroft, in which we held that a conviction under California Penal Code § 417.8 necessarily involves a threatened use of physical force and is thus a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). 363 F.3d 937, 941 (9th Cir. 2004). Herdocia Jarquin argues that California Penal Code § 417.8 is not a crime of violence because it does not categorically require force against another. The government contends that this argument is foreclosed by our holding in Reyes- Alcaraz. However, in Reyes-Alcaraz we did not consider whether a conviction under California Penal Code § 417.8 required the use or threatened use of …

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals