Gomez Zarate v. Holder

Jose Angel Gomez Zarate (“Gomez”) petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision pretermitting his application for cancellation of removal. Gomez contends that his 1993 departure to Mexico—which occurred after he attempted to reenter the United States but was stopped by border patrol agents, arrested, charged and convicted of possessing a false identification document, and taken to the Mexican border in Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) custody—did not interrupt his continuous physical presence for purposes of cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We deny the petition.

I

Gomez is a native and citizen of Mexico. He first entered the United States in January of 1989. In February of 1993, he went to Mexico for two or three weeks. Gomez attempted to reenter the United States, and at the border, gave the immigration officer a “Notification of Birth Registration” from the State of New Mexico. According to the Record of Deportable Alien (Form 1-213) documenting his attempted reentry, Gomez at first claimed that he was a U.S.…