NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 21-2148 ___________ HAROLD E. CHAVES, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ____________________________________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A077-031-822) Immigration Judge: Pallavi S. Shirole ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) March 10, 2022 Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ and MATEY, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: March 17, 2022) ___________ OPINION* ___________ PER CURIAM Harold Chaves petitions for review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). For the reasons detailed below, we will deny the petition * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. for review. Chaves is a citizen of Colombia. His arrival date in the United States is contested, as will be discussed below. In 2019, he was arrested in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after a physical altercation with a coworker, and ultimately was convicted of unlawful possession of a weapon. See N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C: 39-5d. After he completed his state sentence for that offense, the Department of Homeland Security charged him with removability as a noncitizen present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled.1 See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Chaves applied for cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). Before an Immigration Judge (IJ), Chaves testified that he arrived in the United States in 1993 on a commercial flight from Bogota to New York. He explained that the person who prepared his visa had inadvertently put the incorrect name on the visa but told him that there was no need to correct it at the time.2 He testified that since his arrival he had regularly worked and paid taxes and had never left the country. The IJ found Chaves removable as charged—unchallenged since—and denied relief, explaining that to be eligible for cancellation of removal, Chaves had to show, among other things, that he had “been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than 10 years” before he applied for cancellation of 1 Chaves was not charged as removable for having been convicted of a criminal offense. 2 It appears that Chaves’ full name is “Harold Eduardo Chaves Huertas,” according to the Colombian passport he provided in the record. A.R. 315. He testified that the “lady” who prepared his visa at the time of his purported entry in 1993 erroneously wrote “Harold Mora Huertas” on the visa. See A.R. 21, 80–81, 233–34. 2 removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(A). The IJ found that Chaves testified credibly in part, but that his testimony regarding his entry and work history in the United States was “improbable and unsubstantiated,” despite attempts at corroboration by documentary evidence. A.R. 80. Chaves appealed to the BIA, which dismissed his appeal. The BIA affirmed the IJ’s determination that Chaves had not established the requisite ten years of continuous physical presence, see A.R. 3-4, …
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