In its final crImmigration case of the 2012-13 Term, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified that courts can not use the modified categorical approach of statutory interpretation when a statute of conviction is not divisible. Descamps v. United States, No. 11-9540, slip op. (U.S. June 20, 2013) (Kagan, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor, JJ.; Kennedy, concurring; Thomas, concurring in the judgment; Alito, dissenting). Instead, courts must rely on the categorical approach alone which allows consideration of the crime’s elements. The modified categorical approach, in contrast, [...]
IJ: Indiana resisting law enforcement isn’t crime of violence
A Chicago immigration judge recently held that resisting law enforcement in violation of Indiana Code § 35-44-3 is not a crime of violence type of aggravated felony. Matter of ----, slip op. (Chicago Immigr. Ct. Dec. 3, 2012) (Fujimoto, IJ). This case involved an LPR who was convicted and sentenced to 545 days imprisonment. According to the court, at the time of conviction the statute penalized “‘[a] person who knowingly or intentionally…flees from a law enforcement officer after the officer has, by visible or audible means, identified himself and ordered the person to stop’” and “‘the [...]
SCOTUS: Vehicle flight is violent felony under ACCA
It took less than twenty-four hours before my brother Carlos Moctezuma García, one-half (along with my other brother Raúl) of García & García Law and patrocinador of this blog, fielded a question about whether last week’s Supreme Court decision holding that vehicle flight constitutes a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) applies to the crime of violence type of aggravated felony. See Sykes v. United States, No. 09-11311, slip op. (June 9, 2011) (Kennedy wrote for Roberts, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor; Thomas concurring in the judgment; Scalia dissented; Kagan dissented [...]