Armando Gutierrez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Armando “Lupita” Gutierrez appeals from the denial of her request for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In a separate memorandum disposition filed concurrently with this opinion, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the Board of Immigration Appeal’s determination that she is not likely to be tortured if she is returned to Mexico. We issue this per curiam opinion to clarify that the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) may seek to terminate a prior grant of withholding of removal in conjunction with removal proceedings as long as the DHS meets its burden of demonstrating the grounds for doing so. We hold that two separate proceedings are not required pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1208.24 (f).

Ms. Gutierrez was born in Mexico in 1970 and entered the United States without permission in 1999. In July 2007, an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) issued an order denying her asylum but granting her withholding of removal.

The DHS subsequently learned that Ms. Gutierrez had been convicted in August 2007 in a California court for transporting and distributing cocaine, and sentenced to four years in prison. It also discovered that previously, in…