Francisco Jose Morales-Alegria v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General
Opinion
Opinion
Berzon, J.
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that Francisco Morales-Alegria was removable because he had been convicted of an “aggravated felony” within the meaning of Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 101(a)(43)(R), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(43)(R). Morales-Alegria maintains that his conviction for forgery under California Penal Code section 476 does not qualify as an “aggravated felony.” He contends that (1) a conviction under section 476 is not necessarily “an offense relating to ... forgery” because it does not require knowledge of the fictitious nature of the instrument, and (2) the government has not established that he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of “at least one year” for his forgery offense, as § 1101(a)(43)(R) requires.
With respect to Morales-Alegria’s first claim, we hold that a conviction under section 476 does require knowledge of the fictitious nature of the instrument and therefore is not broader than the federal definition of “offense relating to ... forgery” on that account. We do not have jurisdiction to consider Morales-Alegria’s second claim relating to the length requirement, because he did not exhaust it before the BIA.