Rohan Coombs v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Rohan Anthony Coombs, a Jamaican citizen, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing an appeal from an order of removal entered by an immigration judge based upon a finding that Coombs is an alien convicted in California state court of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, an aggravated felony. Because (1) we lack jurisdiction to review his collateral attack upon his underlying state conviction and (2) neither his partial completion of the naturalization process nor his military service conferred nationality upon him, we DISMISS in part and DENY in part his petition for review.

First, Coombs argues that his underlying 2008 California criminal conviction was unconstitutional because his defense lawyer failed to inform him of the immigration consequences of his plea agreement. We determine that we lack jurisdiction to consider the merits of this claim because it functions as an impermissible collateral attack upon his conviction. Lopez-Jacuinde v. Holder, 600 F.3d 1215, 1217 (9th Cir. 2010) (“[T]his Court retains jurisdiction to determine its jurisdiction.”); Ramirez-Villalpando v. Holder, 645 F.3d 1035, 1041 (9th Cir.2010)…