United States v. Juan Moreno-Tapia

PAMELA HARRIS, Circuit Judge:

In 2007, appellant Juan Antonio Moreno-Tapia, a native of Mexico, pleaded guilty in North Carolina court to three counts of indecent liberties with a child. According to Moreno-Tapia, neither his counsel nor the court informed him of the potential immigration consequences of his guilty plea. But those consequences turned out to be significant, and in 2009, Moreno-Tapia was removed from the United States on the basis of his state convictions.

After Moreno-Tapia reentered fhe country without permission, he was charged in federal court in 2014 with illegal reentry by…