Hernan Patricio Castro-O'ryan v. United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization

Hernán Patricio Castro-O’Ryan (Castro) appeals a denial of his applications for withholding of deportation and grant of asylum, which were denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the Board) on July 2, 1986. We reverse the Board and remand for further consideration.

FACTS

Castro was born on April 10, 1955 in Vina Del Mar, Chile and is a citizen of Chile. He is married to Blanca Haydee de Maria Arce-Guevara, a Salvadoran woman admitted as a permanent lawful resident of the United States. She has two children by a previous marriage, and they have one child born in 1977 from this marriage.

Castro first arrived in the United States on a tourist visa on February 28, 1976. On his second entry, July 19, 1980, he was admitted as a permanent resident. On May 11,1981 he was indicted by a federal grand jury for trafficking in cocaine in March and April of 1981, and was specifically charged with selling 1 ounce of cocaine for $1,950 and providing 1 gram of cocaine free to a special agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was also charged with agreeing to sell 17.6 pounds of cocaine at a price of $500,000. On September 23, 1981 the district court found him guilty of conspiracy…