By: Derek Hawkins//January 9, 2017//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Jose I. Chavarria-Reyes v. Loretta E. Lynch
Case No.: 15-3730
Officials: BAUER, POSNER, and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Petition to Review – Immigration – Removal Proceedings
An immigration judge ordered Jose Chavarria‐Reyes removed to Mexico after concluding that he lacks permission to be here and is ineligible for discretionary relief because he has committed a crime of moral turpitude. He does not contest either conclusion but contends nonetheless that the IJ erred by failing to alert him to the possibility of voluntary departure under §240B(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §1229c(a). Voluntary departure usually depends on a showing of good moral character, a showing that Chavarria‐Reyes can‐ not make: he has at least three convictions, for domestic battery, retail theft, and home‐repair fraud. But voluntary departure under §240B(a) is available without regard to the alien’s character, provided he claims this privilege at the outset of the proceedings and forswears all other arguments. An alien who departs voluntarily has more opportunity to re‐ turn in later years than does an alien removed involuntarily. The Board of Immigration Appeals rejected his argument that the IJ had violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and Chavarria‐Reyes has filed a petition for review of that order
Petition to review denied