Amezcua-Vasquez

BACKGROUND

In 1957, Amezcua, a native and citizen of Mexico, became a permanent resident of the United States. He was two years old at the time. He has lived in or around Calipatria, Califor- nia, ever since. In 1981, at the age of twenty-six, Amezcua stabbed someone with a knife in the midst of a gang-related bar fight. As a result, he was convicted in state court of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with great bod- ily injury. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of eight months on the attempted manslaughter count and four years on the assault count. Amezcua’s sentence was initially sus- pended, but his probation was revoked in 1982. He was 6528 UNITED STATES v. AMEZCUA-VASQUEZ released on parole in 1984 and was discharged the following year. In 2006, at the age of fifty-one, Amezcua was ordered removed to Mexico as an alien convicted of an aggravated fel- ony because of his 1981 convictions.

Two weeks after his removal, Amezcua was apprehended entering the United States in the vicinity of Calexico, Califor- nia. After waving his Miranda and Vienna Convention rights, Amezcua admitted that he was not a United States citizen and that he was unlawfully in the…