Opinion
No. 14-74030
06-21-2018
GUILLERMO BECERRIL-GUADARRAMA, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Agency No. A077-271-900 MEMORANDUM On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted October 20, 2016 San Francisco, California
Submission Vacated and Deferred October 20, 2016
Resubmitted for Decision June 18, 2018 Before: TASHIMA and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and KORMAN, District Judge.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
The Honorable Edward R. Korman, Senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation.
Guillermo Becerril-Guadarrama petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") dismissing his appeal of an order of removal. The BIA determined that Becerril-Guadarrama's conviction for felony coercion under Nevada Revised Statute § 207.190(2)(a) was categorically a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). Therefore, the BIA concluded that Becerril-Guadarrama had an aggravated felony conviction that rendered him removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii).
The BIA concluded that Nevada's coercion statute was divisible into misdemeanor and felony offenses, and that Becerril-Guadarrama's "judgment of conviction clearly specifie[d] that he was convicted of felony coercion."
The BIA also concluded that Nevada felony coercion was a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(b), but the Supreme Court has since held that § 16(b) is unconstitutionally vague. See Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. 1204, 1223 (2018).
The Immigration and Nationality Act defines "aggravated felony" to include any "crime of violence . . . for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one year." 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F). --------
This Court recently held that Nevada felony coercion is not categorically a "crime of violence" under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. See United States v. Edling, ___ F.3d ___, No. 16-10457, 2018 WL 2752208, at *6 (9th Cir. June 8, 2018). The Edling court explained that the "physical force" element of the Nevada statute proscribes more behavior than the "violent force" necessary to satisfy the "physical force" standard set forth in Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 140 (2010). Edling, 2018 WL 2752208, at *5. Johnson's standard for "physical force" also applies to the crime of violence definition in 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). See Rodriguez-Castellon v. Holder, 733 F.3d 847, 853-54 (9th Cir. 2013). Hence, because the Nevada felony coercion statute criminalizes more conduct than the generic federal offense, Becerril-Guadarrama's conviction does not categorically constitute a crime of violence. We therefore GRANT the petition for review and VACATE the order of removal.
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The petition is GRANTED.