Singh

MEMORANDUM **

Jagmohan Singh appeals from a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”), and ordering him removed as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony.

1. Singh argues unpersuasively that his convictions are not cognizable in the immigration context because his “conviction has been dismissed.” See, e.g., Cardoso-Tlaseca v. Gonzales, 460 F.3d 1102, 1107 (9th Cir.2006) (citing Matter of Pickering, 23 I & N Dec. 621, 624 (BIA 2003)).

The Ninth Circuit has explicitly held that convictions expunged pursuant to California Penal Code § 1203.4, the statute from which Singh benefitted, remain convictions for immigration purposes. See Ramirez-Castro v. INS, 287 F.3d 1172, 1175 (9th Cir.2002) (“[Assuming that some state expungement statutes could eliminate completely the immigration consequences of a state conviction, California Penal Code section 1203.4 is not such a statute.”) (citing Murillo-Espinoza v. INS, 261 F.3d 771, 774 (9th Cir.2001)). Singh’s argument, that Lujan-Armendariz v. INS, 222 F.3d…