USCA11 Case: 20-11419 Date Filed: 08/18/2021 Page: 1 of 15 [PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-11419 ________________________ Agency No. A058-742-537 EMMANUELY GERMAIN, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (August 18, 2021) Before BRANCH, GRANT, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges. BRANCH, Circuit Judge: USCA11 Case: 20-11419 Date Filed: 08/18/2021 Page: 2 of 15 Emmanuely Germain seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his motion to terminate removal and application for cancellation of removal. Germain argues that the BIA erred in affirming the IJ’s determination that Germain had been convicted of an “aggravated felony,” as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), which rendered him removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) and made him ineligible for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a). The INA defines “aggravated felony” as, among other things, “an offense . . . described in section 1546(a) of [Title 18] (relating to document fraud) . . . for which the term of imprisonment is at least 12 months.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(P). It is undisputed that Germain was convicted of four counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a) for making false statements in an immigration application and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for each of those convictions. Germain argues, however, that he did not commit an “aggravated felony” under § 1101(a)(43)(P) because his convictions under § 1546(a) were not “(relating to document fraud).” In other words, Germain maintains that the parenthetical phrase “(relating to document fraud)” limits the violations of § 1546(a) that constitute aggravated felonies under § 1101(a)(43)(P). Because all four paragraphs of § 1546(a) relate to document fraud and the plain text and structure of the INA demonstrate that the 2 USCA11 Case: 20-11419 Date Filed: 08/18/2021 Page: 3 of 15 parenthetical “(relating to document fraud)” is merely descriptive of § 1546(a)— rather than limiting—Germain’s argument fails. We deny Germain’s petition for review. I. Background Germain was admitted to the United States in 2007 as a lawful permanent resident. Roughly ten years later, he was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit an offense to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and three counts of making a false statement in an immigration application, in violation of the fourth paragraph of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a). The district court sentenced Germain to concurrent terms of 18 months’ imprisonment for each of the four convictions, and we affirmed Germain’s convictions on appeal. See United States v. Germain, 759 F. App’x 866 (11th Cir. 2019). The Department of Homeland Security then issued Germain a Notice to Appear (“NTA”) alleging that he was removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) 1 as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony based on his § 1546(a) convictions.2 1 Section 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) provides that “[a]ny alien who is convicted of an …
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