Peralta Sauceda v. Lynch, 804 F.3d 101 (1st Cir. Oct. 14, 2015) (Maine conviction of assault on wife, in violation of Me.Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 17"A, 207(1)(A) ([a] person is guilty of assault if: A. The person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury or offensive physical contact to another person.), is divisible, with the bodily injury prong constituting a domestic violence conviction under INA 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), and the offensive contact prong not involving sufficient violence to qualify under that ground); see Matter of Sanudo, 23 I. & N. Dec.

United States v. Whindleton, 797 F.3d 105 (1st Cir. Aug. 10, 2015) (Massachusetts conviction for conviction for assault with a deadly weapon under Massachusetts General Laws ch. 265, 15B(b) [[w]hoever, by means of a dangerous weapon, commits an assault upon another.], constitutes a violent felony under the ACCA); following United States v. Am, 564 F.3d 25, 33 & n. 9 (1st Cir. 2009) (an ADW conviction under under Massachusetts General Laws ch. 265, 15B(b) clearly satisfies the ACCA's Force Clause).

Levesque v. Lynch, 802 F.3d 152, 154 (1st Cir. Sept. 18, 2015) (only foreign convictions for which the term of imprisonment was completed after the previous 15 years are excluded from the aggravated felony definition; the exclusion does not apply to federal and state convictions).

Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2251 (2015), strongly supports the argument that 18 U.S.C. 16(b) is unconstitutionally vague. The question remains, however, whether the Board of Immigration Appeals (as distinct from a federal court) has authority to find 16(b) to be unconstitutionally vague.

Quijada-Aguilar v. Lynch, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 5103038 (9th Cir. Sept. 1, 2015) (California conviction for voluntary manslaughter, under Penal Code 192(a), did not qualify as a particularly serious crime that would render noncitizen ineligible for withholding of removal, since it did not constitute an aggravated felony crime of violence, because it encompassed reckless conduct).

California Assembly Bill 899, which Brown signed into law on Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, mandates that records for those in the juvenile justice system remain confidential regardless of the juveniles immigration status, and prohibits the disclosure and dissemination of juvenile information to federal officials unless a juvenile court grants permission.

Mowlana v. Lynch, ___ F.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL 5730791 (8th Cir. Sept. 30, 2015) (federal conviction for unauthorized use, transfer, acquisition, and possession of food stamp benefits, under 7 U.S.C. 2024(b)(1), was fraud and deceit aggravated felony in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(M)(i), since this offense requires knowing that conduct was contrary to statutes or regulations); see Liparota v. United States, 471 U.S. 419, 433 (1985) (elements of 7 U.S.C.

United States v. Figueroa-Alvarez, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 4620324 (8th Cir. Aug. 4, 2015) (Iowa conviction for committing third-degree attempted burglary, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison under state law, Iowa Code 713.6B, 903.1(2), constituted a felony under federal criminal law, for illegal reentry sentencing purposes).

Ortiz v. Lynch, __ F.3d __ (8th Cir. Aug. 6, 2015) (Minnesota conviction for violation of Minn.Stat. 609.50, subd. 2(2), obstruction of legal process, is not an aggravated felony crime of violence under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(F), INA 101(a)(43)(F), since the minimum amount of force required to sustain a conviction under the obstruction of legal process is not violent force as required by 18 U.S.C. 16).

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has published a Practice Advisory on safe havens in California theft cases, under new Ninth Circuit law.

1. Avoid a sentence of one year or more in custody.
2. If that is not possible, try to obtain one of the following dispositions:
a. If one year or more will be imposed on a single theft count, but loss to the victim(s) does not exceed $10k, plead specifically to a fraud offense contained in Penal Code 484 (taking by deceit, embezzlement) or to theft of labor;
b. If the loss to the victim(s) exceeds $10k, but no one-year will be imposed, plead speci