United States v. Jose Ramirez-Arreola

MEMORANDUM

Jose Ramirez-Arreola appeals his conviction and forty-one-month sentence for attempted reentry after deportation in vio lation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He contends that the underlying deportation was invalid because the Immigration Judge (IJ) failed to advise him of his eligibility for voluntary departure. Because the parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, we do not recount additional facts except as necessary to explain our decision. We affirm.

An IJ must inform an alien of his or her “apparent eligibility” for relief from deportation, 8 C.F.R. § 1240.11 (a)(2), and “[w]e have repeatedly held that an IJ’s failure to so advise an alien violates due process and can serve as the basis for a collateral attack to a deportation order where ... the order is used as the predicate for an illegal reentry charge under § 1326,” United States v. Lopez-Velasquez, 629 F.3d 894, 897 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc). Ramirez-Arreola contends that at the time of his deportation hearing, he was eligible for voluntary departure because he could have shown that he was “a person of good moral character” under former 8 U.S.C. § 1254 (e) (repealed 1996). An alien…