Ngaeth

I. BACKGROUND

Ngaeth is a native and citizen of Cambodia. He was admit- ted to the United States as a refugee in 1980 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1982. On October 2, 1992, Ngaeth pled guilty to a second-degree burglary in violation of section 459 of the California Penal Code and received a one- year sentence. Section 459 provides, in pertinent part:

Every person who enters any house, room, apart- ment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel . . . , floating home . . . , railroad car, locked or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehi- cle, trailer coach . . . , any house car . . . , inhabited camper . . . , vehicle . . . when the doors are locked, aircraft . . . , or mine or any underground portion 1 Ngaeth’s first name was misspelled as “Bunny” on his immigration documents. We hereby amend the caption to reflect the proper spelling. NGAETH v. MUKASEY 13605 thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary.

Ngaeth pled specifically to one count of “enter[ing] a locked motor vehicle . . . with the intent to commit theft.”

On…