Criminal Defense of Immigrants
Chapter
§ 12.37 (C)
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(C) Good Moral Character. Many forms of relief require a showing of Good Moral Character during a specified period by the applicant. See § 15.6, infra. A child who is under 14 years of age is presumed to be a person of Good Moral Character.[263] However, there is no such presumption when a minor noncitizen is tried as an adult, but serves a sentence in juvenile hall.[264]
[263] 8 C.F.R. § 204.2(e)(2)(v).
[264] Matter of CM, 9 I. & N. Dec. 487 (BIA 1961).
Updates
Third Circuit
JUVENILES - FAILURE TO IMPUTE PARENTS RESIDENCE TO MINOR FOR CANCELLATION PURPOSES
Augustin v. Attorney General, 520 F.3d 264 (3d Cir. Mar. 20, 2008) (BIA did not err in refusing to impute to a noncitizen who entered the United States as a minor the parent's years of continuous residence in order to meet the seven-year requirement for cancellation of removal), declining to follow Cuevas-Gaspar v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 1013 (9th Cir. 2005) (parent's preceding years of residence in the United States are imputed to a minor child in application for cancellation of removal) , and distinguishing Morel v. INS, 90 F.3d 833 (3d Cir. 1996), vacated on other grounds, 144 F.3d 248 (3d Cir. 1998) (imputing presence in INA 212(c) context).