Tuyet Thi Tran v. Gonzales

MEMORANDUM ***

Petitioner Tuyet Thi Tran, a native and citizen of Vietnam and permanent resident *659 of the United States, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’(BIA) streamlined affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) order of removal for committing a crime involving moral turpitude. She provided two statements to Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) agents and testified during her removal hearing that she shot her co-worker Loc Tuan Le. Thus, the IJ ruled she admitted the essential elements of aggravated assault under Texas law, which the IJ found to be a crime of moral turpitude. We agree.

She argues that two statements provided to INS agents should have been suppressed because (1) she was the focus of a criminal investigation and therefore improperly denied counsel under 8 C.F.R. § 292.5 (b); and (2) her statements were coerced. In addition, she argues that she did not admit the essential elements of a crime involving moral turpitude because she acted in self-defense.

First, Tran was not the focus of a criminal investigation. See United States v. Alderete-Deras, 743 F.2d 645, 647 (9th Cir.1984). Thus, she had no right to counsel under 8…