Case: 19-60376 Document: 00515721462 Page: 1 Date Filed: 01/27/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED January 27, 2021 No. 19-60376 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Fernando Munoz-Rivera, also known as Fernando Rivera Munoz, also known as Martin Alvarez, also known as Edgar Gonzalez-Munoz, also known as Rivera Munoz, Petitioner, versus Robert M. Wilkinson, Acting U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Before Owen, Chief Judge, and Graves and Ho, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: The question presented in this case is whether the use of an unauthorized social security number constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) such that Fernando Munoz-Rivera is ineligible for cancellation of his removal to Mexico. Because we answer in the affirmative, we dismiss the petition for review. Case: 19-60376 Document: 00515721462 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/27/2021 No. 19-60376 I Fernando Munoz-Rivera, a Mexican citizen, entered the United States near Laredo, Texas in 2010 without being admitted or paroled. In 2015, Munoz-Rivera was convicted of the use of an unauthorized social security number in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B). The Department of Homeland Security later charged Munoz-Rivera with being removable as an alien convicted of a CIMT under § 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). Munoz-Rivera denied the charge, asserting that he had not been convicted of a CIMT and that he intended to seek cancellation of removal under §240A(b)(1) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). After allowing the parties to brief whether the § 408(a)(7)(B) offense constitutes a CIMT, the Immigration Judge (IJ) agreed with the Government, sustaining the charges against Munoz-Rivera, pretermitting his application for cancellation of removal, and ordering that he be removed. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed Munoz-Rivera’s appeal, agreeing with the IJ that Munoz-Rivera was ineligible for cancellation of removal because his conviction for use of an unauthorized social security number was a CIMT. Munoz-Rivera filed a timely petition for review. II This court reviews de novo the BIA’s determination of whether an offense qualifies as a CIMT but defers to the BIA’s interpretation of the term “moral turpitude.” 1 Our court has observed that “[t]he INA does not define the term ‘moral turpitude’ and legislative history does not reveal congressional intent regarding which crimes are turpitudinous. Instead, 1 Villegas-Sarabia v. Sessions, 874 F.3d 871, 877 (5th Cir. 2017). 2 Case: 19-60376 Document: 00515721462 Page: 3 Date Filed: 01/27/2021 No. 19-60376 Congress left the interpretation of this provision to the BIA and interpretation of its application to state and federal laws to the federal courts.” 2 Under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I), an alien is inadmissible into the United States if she has been convicted of a CIMT. 3 Section 1229b provides that an alien is ineligible for cancellation of her removal if she has been convicted of an offense under § 1182(a)(2). 4 Thus, if the offense of which Munoz-Rivera was convicted ...
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