United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 20-1913 FLAVIO ANDRADE-PRADO, JR., Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, United States Attorney General, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Kayatta, Gelpí, and Montecalvo, Circuit Judges. Jason Giannetti, with whom Law Offices of Jason Giannetti, Esq. was on brief, for petitioner. Jeffrey R. Leist, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, with whom Brian Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Anthony C. Payne, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, were on brief for respondent. April 4, 2023 GELPÍ, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Flavio Andrade-Prado, Jr. ("Petitioner" or "Andrade-Prado") seeks review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA"). The BIA dismissed Andrade-Prado's appeal of the immigration court's decision concluding that his Brazilian conviction (which carried a sentence of over seven years) constituted both an aggravated felony and a particularly serious crime rendering him ineligible for asylum, withholding of removal, cancellation of removal, and voluntary departure. The BIA upheld the immigration court's conclusion that Andrade-Prado's foreign conviction was valid and thus barred him from relief. Because substantial evidence supports the BIA's determination, we find no error of law and deny Andrade-Prado's petition for review. I. Background A. Andrade-Prado's Foreign Conviction Petitioner was born and raised in Poço Fundo, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, he dealt with physical and psychological trauma largely due to police militias and criminal groups in his hometown. While in Brazil, Petitioner was in a relationship with a woman to whom we shall refer as M.C.D.P., which ended in 2004. In April 2005, M.C.D.P. accused Petitioner of rape, which led to his arrest and prosecution. Petitioner remained in pre-trial detention for the pendency of his case, was represented by a court-appointed - 2 - attorney, appeared in court once -- on September 28, 2006 -- for an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the charges against him, and through his attorney, presented a defense, produced documentary evidence, and had the opportunity to cross-examine the victim at that evidentiary hearing (although he declined to do so). Subsequently, a Brazilian judge convicted Petitioner of rape and sentenced him to seven years and six months of imprisonment. In May 2008, while Petitioner was in a work release program, he escaped from prison and fled to Panama, and eventually entered the United States in August 2008 via a Texas border crossing. A Brazilian arrest warrant was issued on July 13, 2012. B. Life in the United States While working in Taunton, Massachusetts, Petitioner met his wife. They began dating in 2010, moved to Brockton in 2011, had their first child a year later, and were married in November 2013. Their second child was born in 2018. Petitioner's wife and children are U.S. citizens. Along with his wife, Petitioner owned a carpentry business. In 2017, Petitioner engaged a Brazilian lawyer to try to expunge his Brazilian rape conviction.1 On April 25, 2019, Immigration and …
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