Arsdi

We are called upon to decide whether an alien exhausted his administrative remedies in challenging an immigration judge’s ruling that he had committed a “particularly serious crime” and therefore was subject to removal from the United States.

I

Alazar Getachew Arsdi is a native and citizen of Ethiopia, who came to the United States with his mother in 2002 at age fourteen and who became a legal permanent resident in 2005.

On February 17, 2006, the seventeen-year-old Arsdi and a school friend robbed Pedro Cervantes and Jesus Lugo at gun point at a local gas station. Arsdi tried to downplay his role during immigration proceedings, but he admitted that he drove the car, held the gun, and collected the spoils. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Cervantes was able to provide the police with a description both of his attackers and of their vehicle. The teenagers were apprehended before they disposed of the shotgun or Lugo’s ATM card.

Although Arsdi was underage and a first-time offender, the state of Arizona charged him as an adult with armed robbery, a Class 2 felony with a presumptive punishment of five years incarceration. Faced with overwhelming evidence, Arsdi pled…