USCA11 Case: 20-14340 Date Filed: 07/06/2022 Page: 1 of 17 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-14340 ____________________ EVERTON DAYE, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A200-316-306 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-14340 Date Filed: 07/06/2022 Page: 2 of 17 20-14340 Opinion of the Court 2 Before GRANT, LUCK, and HULL, Circuit Judges. HULL, Circuit Judge: Everton Daye, a native and citizen of Jamaica, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision that concluded that Daye was removable based on (1) his two state convictions for felony transporting into Virginia controlled substances with the intent to distribute and (2) his third state conviction for felony conspiracy to transport marijuana into Virginia. After review and with the benefit of oral argument, we hold that the BIA did not err in concluding that Daye was removable because his state drug trafficking convictions categorically constitute crimes involving moral turpitude (“CIMT”) within the meaning of Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 237(a)(2)(A)(i)-(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(i)-(ii). Further, the Supreme Court’s decision in Jordan v. De George forecloses Daye’s claim that the phrase “crime involving moral turpitude” in the INA is unconstitutionally vague. See 341 U.S. 223, 231-32, 71 S. Ct. 703, 708 (1951). Accordingly, we deny Daye’s petition. I. BACKGROUND A. Daye’s Virginia Convictions On May 22, 2008, Daye was admitted to the United States on a B-2 visitor’s visa. After Daye married a U.S. citizen, his status was adjusted to lawful permanent resident in September 2009. USCA11 Case: 20-14340 Date Filed: 07/06/2022 Page: 3 of 17 20-14340 Opinion of the Court 3 In separate criminal cases in 2013, Daye was convicted of (1) two substantive counts of transporting one ounce or more of cocaine, or another Virginia Schedule I or II controlled substance, or five pounds of marijuana into Virginia with the intent to sell or distribute the substance, in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2- 248.01, and (2) one conspiracy count of transporting more than five pounds of marijuana into Virginia, in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-256 (the conspiracy statute). The underlying substantive offense for the conspiracy count is Va. Code Ann. § 18-2.248.01, the same statute in Daye’s other convictions. The parties agree that Daye committed his two substantive drug offenses on March 15, 2013 and his marijuana conspiracy offense beginning on August 13, 2013. In February 2014, the state court imposed prison terms of seven years for each of the two substantive drug offenses, to run consecutively, and another consecutive prison term of five years for the marijuana conspiracy offense. The resulting total term was 19 years, with six years to be served in prison and the balance suspended. B. Removal Proceedings Before the IJ In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice to Appear, charging Daye with removability on multiple grounds, including: (1) under INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § …
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