Immigrant Not Removable for Stopping Victim From Reporting Crime

An immigrant from Mexico isn’t removable on the basis of his California conviction for attempting to dissuade a victim from reporting a crime, the Ninth Circuit said.

Because the state offense isn’t categorically an “offense relating to obstruction of justice,” it isn’t an aggravated felony that would trigger Fernando Cordero-Garcia’s removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act, said the opinion by Judge Barry Ted Moskovitz, sitting by designation from the US District Court for the Southern District of California.

The California law doesn’t require a nexus between the defendant’s actions and an ongoing or pending proceeding, whereas the federal obstruction ...