Milan Heracovici v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Milan Heracovici, a native and citizen of Romania, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) removal order. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review de novo questions of law, and review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Ali v. Holder, 637 F.3d 1025, 1028-29 (9th Cir.2011). We deny in part and grant in part the petition for review, and remand for further proceedings.

The BIA correctly determined that the government was not precluded by res judicata from charging Heracovici with removability on the basis of his 2001 and 2003 convictions. The IJ’s termination without prejudice of a previous removal proceeding did not constitute “a final judgment on the merits” of whether these convictions qualified as removable offenses. See Paulo v. Holder, 669 F.3d 911, 917 (9th Cir.2011). With respect to Heracovici’s 1999 and 2000 convictions, the BIA correctly determined that the government was not precluded from using one of these prior convictions, in combination with a new conviction, to charge Heracovici with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1227…