Rodriguez

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioners Edik R. Godinez Rodriguez and Evely M. Godinez (“Petitioners”), natives and citizens of Guatemala, petition pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s (“BIA’s”) dismissal of their appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ’s”) denial of their cancellation of removal application and their alternative request for voluntary departure. 1 Because the BIA determined that Petitioners’ welfare fraud conviction involved a crime of moral turpitude, it concluded that Petitioners lacked good moral character and that they were thus statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal. The BIA also concluded that Petitioners were not eligible for voluntary departure because they had neither the funds nor the travel documents required to return to Guatemala.

In 1996, two years before removal proceedings were instituted against them, petitioners pleaded guilty to violating two California statutes in connection with their *210 receipt of welfare benefits to which they were not entitled. First, they were convicted of fraud in violation of California Welfare and Institutions Code § 10980(c)(2), which stated,

Second, Petitioners were convicted of perjury in…