Case: 19-12114 Date Filed: 04/13/2020 Page: 1 of 11 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 19-12114 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cv-21038-JJO ERNESTO ALONSO MEJIA RODRIGUEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, Defendants-Appellees. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (April 13, 2020) Before MARTIN, ROSENBAUM, and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges. Case: 19-12114 Date Filed: 04/13/2020 Page: 2 of 11 PER CURIAM: In this declaratory judgment action, Plaintiff Ernesto Mejia Rodriguez appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) and the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) (collectively, “the government”). No reversible error has been shown; we affirm. I. Background Plaintiff is a native and citizen of Honduras. In 1999, Plaintiff applied for Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”), pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1254a. Briefly stated, TPS is a form of temporary relief available to citizens of countries designated by DHS due to unsuitable living conditions, such as those caused by a natural disaster. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a; Mejia Rodriguez v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 562 F.3d 1137, 1140 (11th Cir. 2009). At all times pertinent to this appeal, Honduras was designated for inclusion in the TPS program. An alien is ineligible for TPS, however, if he “has been convicted of . . . 2 or more misdemeanors committed in the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(c)(2)(B)(ii). For purposes of the TPS program, the term “misdemeanor” is 2 Case: 19-12114 Date Filed: 04/13/2020 Page: 3 of 11 defined as “a crime committed in the United States” that is “[p]unishable by imprisonment for a term of one year or less, regardless of the term such alien actually served, if any . . ..” 8 C.F.R. § 244.1. In his 1999 TPS application, Plaintiff disclosed his criminal history, including these convictions: (1) a 1985 conviction for refusal to pay transit fare at a Miami MetroRail station and (2) 1986 conviction for possession of marijuana and for driving with a suspended license. Despite Plaintiff’s criminal history, Plaintiff’s TPS application was granted. In accordance with the TPS program, Plaintiff submitted periodic re-registration applications to retain his TPS. In 2006, however, the USCIS denied Plaintiff’s re- registration application on grounds that Plaintiff was ineligible for TPS: he had two or more disqualifying misdemeanor convictions. Plaintiff has since raised several challenges to the USCIS’s determination about his eligibility for TPS, resulting in a twisting and lengthy procedural history. We set forth only those facts pertinent to this appeal.1 In 2011, this Court determined that Plaintiff’s 1986 charges -- to which Plaintiff pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served -- qualified as a 1 The procedural history of this case is described more fully in the district court’s 22 May 2019 order and also in our earlier decisions in Mejia Rodriguez v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 562 F.3d ...
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