Published Decisions

Ruiz-Vidal v. Gonzales, 473 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2007)
Background: Alien filed petition for review of an order of the BIA affirming immigration judge's order that alien be removed from the United States on ground that he was convicted of violating a law relating to a controlled substance.

Holdings: The Court of Appeals, O'Scannlain, Circuit Judge, held that:

(1) alien's prior conviction for possession of methamphetamine could not serve a second time as a predictive removal offense, after the alien had previously been found removable on the basis of this conviction but was granted cancellation of removal;

(2) frecord did not establish that the particular substance which alien was convicted of possessing in violation of state law was a controlled substance as defined in Controlled Substances Act (CSA), and thus alien's state conviction for possession of controlled substance could not serve as predicate removal offense; and

(3) remand for reconsideration was unnecessary and inappropriate.