Oscar Rojas v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

Rojas was denied pre-conclusion voluntary departure by an Immigration Judge (IJ). The Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) affirmed without a written opinion, and Rojas petitioned us for review.

Rojas’s narrow but specific argument is that the IJ erred by considering facts which, in a criminal case, might be evidence of a crime. He contends that in doing so, the IJ was using a crime as evidence against him even though he had not then been convicted of the crime alleged against him. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(1) and we deny the petition.

I.

Rojas entered the United States without inspection in 1989. In 2007, he was served with a Notice to Appear charging him with removability. At a subsequent hearing, Rojas conceded removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(6)(A)(i) as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. After pursuing other forms of relief, Rojas eventually applied for voluntary departure.

At the voluntary departure hearing, Rojas stated that he was thirty-one years old, and that he had a one-year-old child whose mother was seventeen when the child was born. After evaluating a broad range of positive and negative…