January 08th, 2020

US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Chavez-Mercado v. Barr

Docket: 17-60212
Opinion Date: January 6, 2020
Judge: James L. Dennis
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Petitioner sought review of the BIA's order dismissing an appeal from the IJ's denial of his motion to terminate removal proceedings and order of removal. The Fifth Circuit held that res judicata did not preclude DHS from seeking to remove petitioner on the basis of his burglary conviction, because the convictions for evading arrest with a motor vehicle and burglary of a habitation underlying his removal proceedings were not based on the same nucleus of operative facts. Therefore, the court denied the petition for review in part. The court dismissed the petition for review in part based on lack of jurisdiction, because petitioner argued for the first time on appeal that DHS was precluded from filing a second notice to appear.

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