Carty

I. BACKGROUND

Carty immigrated to the United States in 1965 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1975. Working as a licensed physician in Los Angeles, Carty made a comfortable and, it turns out, largely unreported income.1 The State of California charged Carty with the willful failure to file a state income tax return in 1991 and 1992, in violation of Section 19406. Carty pled nolo contendere to both counts, and was sentenced to ninety days house arrest, payment of all past taxes due, and probation for three years. In 2001, Carty pled guilty to attempted bribery of a government official, admitting that he offered money to obtain a U.S. passport for a non-citizen. He was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment and three years probation. 1 The record shows Carty made, on average, $3,000 per week from 1984 to 1996. CARTY v. ASHCROFT 787 The INS thereafter commenced removal proceedings against Carty pursuant to INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(ii)2 for convic- tion of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude. In the face of Carty’s argument that failure to file a tax return is not a crime involving moral turpitude,3 the IJ ruled that Carty’s willful…