Aggravated Felony Crime of Violence-Immigration

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Kibambe Mwendapeke v. Merrick B. Garland

Case No.: 22-2383

Officials: Rovner, Hamilton, and Brennan, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Aggravated Felony Crime of Violence-Immigration

Kibambe Mwendapeke, a permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of the Congo,

petitions for review of an order from the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing his appeal. The Board affirmed an immigration judge’s decision that Mwendapeke is removable from the United States because he was convicted of an aggravated felony crime of violence. Mwendapeke argues that the Board and the immigration judge erroneously categorized complicity to robbery in the first degree under Kentucky law as a crime of violence.

The court applied the categorical approach to determine if Mwendapeke’s state conviction for complicity to robbery in the first degree under Kentucky law constituted a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). It concluded that the Kentucky statute aligns with the required level of force and mens rea (intention or knowledge of wrongdoing) for a crime of violence. The Kentucky complicity statute was also found not to be overbroad in relation to generic aiding-and-abetting liability.

Mwendapeke’s argument that the complicity statute doesn’t require the defendant to actively employ force was rejected by the court. They stated that the focus should be on whether the offense necessarily involves the use of force, not on whether the individual personally used force. The court reiterated that for a conviction of complicity, it must be proven that the underlying crime was actually committed, including its physical force element.

As a result, the court held that Mwendapeke’s conviction was a categorical match for an aggravated felony crime of violence under federal law, rendering him removable. Thus, the petition for review was denied.

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Decided 12/07/23

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