Cervantes v. Holder, ___ F.3d ___, 2014 WL 6463031 (9th Cir. Nov. 19, 2014) (the petty offense exception to inadmissibility, under INA 212(a)(2)(A)(ii), 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(A)(ii), based on a crime of moral turpitude, is mandatory and does not have any discretionary component); accord, Matter of Salvail, 17 I. & N. Dec. 19, 21 (BIA 1979) (explaining that the relief afforded by the petty offense exception is mandatory).

Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d 955, 963 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc) (review is generally limited to the information in the administrative record: court is statutorily prevented from taking judicial notice of the Country Report that petitioner did not submit to the BIA).

The court stated: We may review out-of-record evidence only where (1) the Board considers the evidence; or (2) the Board abuses its discretion by failing to consider such evidence upon the motion of an applicant. Id. at 964; see also Altawil v. INS, 179 F.3d 791, 792 (9th Cir.

Lising v. INS, 124 F.3d 996, 998-99 (9th Cir. 1997) (court is not precluded from taking judicial notice of an agencys own records; affirming taking judicial notice of application for naturalization); Gafoor v. INS, 231 F.3d 645, 655-57 (9th Cir. 2000) (court may take judicial notice of dramatic foreign developments that occur after the BIAs determination: taking judicial notice of Fijian coup which occurred after the BIAs decision), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated by Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734 (9th Cir. 2009); Singh v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 903, 905-07 (9th Cir.

United States v. Raya-Vaca, ___ F.3d ___, 2014 WL 5802287 (9th Cir. Nov. 10, 2014) (expedited administrative removal order under INA 235 violated due process where immigration officer failed to comply with 8 C.F.R. 235.3(b)(2)(i), and no prejudice need be shown).

Almanza-Arenas v. Holder, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Nov.

Almanza-Arenas v. Holder, ___ F.3d ___, ___ (9th Cir. Nov. 10, 2014) (Where the petitioner was convicted under a divisible statute, we apply the modified categorical approach to determine which alternative element in a divisible statute formed the basis of the defendants conviction. Descamps, 133 S. Ct. at 2293. This inquiry is legal, not factual, because the [Immigration and Nationality Act] asks what offense the noncitizen was convicted of, . . . not what acts he committed. Moncrieffe v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 1678, 1685 (2013) (internal citations omitted).).

Almanza-Arenas v. Holder, ___ F.3d ___, ___ (9th Cir. Nov. 10, 2014) (The difference between indivisible and divisible statutes is that indivisible statutes may contain multiple, alternative means of committing the crime, [but] only divisible statutes contain multiple, alternative elements of functionally separate crimes. Rendon v. Holder, 764 F.3d 1077, 1084"85 (9th Cir. 2014) (emphasis in original).

NIPNLGs and Immigrant Defense Projects latest advisory on Matter of Ferreira, 26 I&N Dec. 415 (BIA 2014), and the realistic probability test. This practice advisory assesses the current state of the federal court and agency case law on the realistic probability standard, and provides practice tips and litigation strategies for meeting this standard. The advisory is located at:
http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/publications.htm

AILA Amicus Brief on Statutory Bar to Good Moral Character
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=50582
AILA amicus brief filed with the Tenth Circuit arguing that a sentence reduction is entitled to full faith and credit for purposes of calculating the 180-day confinement period found in the statutory bar to good moral character at INA 101(f).

Singh v. Holder, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. Nov. 13, 2014) (BIA has jurisdiction to reopen removal proceedings to allow noncitizen to pursue adjustment of status under 8 C.F.R. 1003.2(a)), declining to follow Matter of Yauri, 25 I. & N. Dec. 103 (BIA 2009).