Jose Muniz-Alvarado v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Jose Alberto Muniz-Alvarado petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order affirming an immigration judge’s decision ordering him removed to Mexico and denying his application for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we grant the petition.

As a threshold matter, Respondent urges us to remand this case for the BIA to determine in the first instance whether Petitioner is still removable under our intervening case law. We deny Respondent’s motion to remand, because this case presents purely legal issues that we review de novo and that do not invoke the agency’s expertise. See Fregozo v. Holder, 576 F.3d 1030, 1036 (9th Cir.2009).

Where, as here, the BIA reviewed de novo the IJ’s decision, our review is limited to the decision of the BIA. Garcia-Quintero v. Gonzales, 455 F.3d 1006, 1011 (9th Cir.2006). The BIA concluded that Petitioner was removable based on his conviction under former California Penal Code (“CPC”) § 12021(a)(1) [unauthorized firearm possession by a convicted felon]. Relying on our then-existing precedent, the BIA found that Petitioner’s conviction un der former CPC § 12021(a)(1) was categorically…