The DHS sometimes argues that a state probation grant longer than the one-year probation period called for under the Federal First Offender Act, 18 U.S.C. 3706(a), disqualifies a conviction for treatment under Lujan-Armendariz v. INS, 222 F.3d 728, 749 (9th Cir. 2000), prospectively overruled by Nunez-Reyes v. Holder, 646 F.3d 684, 688 (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc). The court of appeals has jurisdiction to review the underlying legal error of the BIA in adopting this argument. See Singh v. Holder, 771 F.3d 647, 650 (9th Cir. 2014). Lujan-Armendariz itself extended Federal First Offender Act treatment to a noncitizen who successfully served five years of probation for a simple drug offense. See 222 F.3d at 733. Similarly, in Rice v. Holder, 597 F.3d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 2010), overruled on other grounds by Nunez-Reyes, 646 F.3d at 695, the Ninth Circuit held that a controlled substance offense was eligible for FFOA treatment even though the petitioner had been sentenced to three years probation, of which he had served approximately 19 months. See id.

 

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