Garcia-Jimenez v. Gonzales

SILVERMAN, Circuit Judge.

The government charged petitioner Jose Garcia-Jimenez with being removable on account of, first, two prior criminal convictions occurring in the mid-1990s, and, second, a recent attempt to smuggle undocumented aliens into the country. Garcia-Jimenez’s criminal convictions occurred before Congress replaced the Immigration and Nationality Act’s waiver of deportation provisions with the more stringent cancellation of removal provisions. Accordingly, he was entitled to apply for, and did receive, a waiver as to his convictions. The Immigration Judge, however, denied…