19-1385 Mota v. Barr 1 In the 2 United States Court of Appeals 3 For the Second Circuit 4 5 6 August Term 2019 7 8 No. 19-1385 9 10 ADERITO FERRAZ MOTA, AKA ADERITO FERRAZ, 11 12 Petitioner, 13 14 v. 15 16 WILLIAM P. BARR, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, 17 18 Respondent. 19 20 21 22 On Petition for Review of a Final Order 23 of the Board of Immigration Appeals 24 (Argued June 4, 2020; Decided August 17, 2020) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 1 Before: PARKER, LIVINGSTON, and PARK, Circuit Judges. 2 3 Aderito Ferraz Mota, a lawful permanent resident, was found removable 4 for having been convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude (“CIMTs”) 5 pursuant to § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Board 6 of Immigration Appeals affirmed, reasoning that his two convictions were 7 CIMTs. Mota petitioned for review, arguing that his convictions were not CIMTs 8 because the Connecticut statute at issue, CGS § 21a-277(a)(1), may be violated by 9 a wide range of conduct which is not necessarily morally reprehensible. We 10 DENY the petition. 11 ________ 12 13 JUSTIN CONLON, Law Offices of Justin Conlon, Hartford, CT, 14 for Petitioner. 15 16 LAURA HICKEIN, Trial Attorney (Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant 17 Attorney General; Shelley R. Goad, Assistant Director, on the 18 brief) for the Office of Immigration Litigation, United States 19 Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent. 20 ________ 21 22 BARRINGTON D. PARKER, Circuit Judge: 23 Petitioner Aderito Ferraz Mota, a native and citizen of Portugal, entered 24 the United States in May 2007 on a nonimmigrant visa. In April 2011, Mota 25 adjusted his status to that of a lawful permanent resident. In September 2015, 26 Connecticut law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Mota’s 27 apartment and arrested him after finding a number of items consistent with the 28 manufacturing and sale of crack cocaine. In August 2016, Connecticut law 29 enforcement executed another search warrant at a motel and again arrested Mota 2 1 after finding crack cocaine and several items consistent with the sale of crack 2 cocaine in the room in which he was staying. In January 2017, based on these 3 arrests, Mota pleaded guilty to two counts of felony possession of narcotics with 4 intent to sell, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes (“CGS”) § 21a- 5 277(a)(1). 6 CGS § 21a-277(a)(1) provides that “[n]o person may manufacture, 7 distribute, sell, prescribe, dispense, compound, transport with the intent to sell or 8 dispense, possess with the intent to sell or dispense, offer, give or administer to 9 another person, except as authorized in this chapter, any controlled substance 10 that is a (A) narcotic substance, or (B) hallucinogenic substance.” Mota’s plea 11 agreement and certificate of disposition demonstrate that he was convicted 12 under subsection (A) of this statute. 13 In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security charged Mota, based ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals