United States v. Mendoza-Sanchez ( 2020 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 19-1091
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
ROBERTO MENDOZA-SÁNCHEZ,
Defendant, Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
[Hon. Joseph A. DiClerico, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Torruella, Boudin, and Kayatta,
Circuit Judges.
Christine DeMaso, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for
appellant.
Seth R. Aframe, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom
Scott W. Murray, United States Attorney, was on brief, for
appellee.
June 30, 2020
TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge. Defendant-Appellant Roberto
Mendoza-Sánchez ("Mendoza"), a Mexican citizen, pleaded guilty to
one count of reentry after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C.
§ 1326(a). Prior to sentencing, and in the wake of the Supreme
Court's decision in Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018),1
Mendoza moved to withdraw his plea and dismiss the indictment,
believing that the removal order underlying his conviction for
reentering after deportation had been rendered null and void.
According to Mendoza, the immigration court lacked jurisdiction to
issue the removal order in the first place because his notice to
appear -- the document served on a noncitizen and filed with the
immigration court that initiates removal proceedings -- did not
specify the date or time of the removal hearing. The district
court denied the motion, finding that Mendoza did not satisfy any
of the prerequisites set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d) for
collaterally attacking the removal order during the criminal
proceedings, and it sentenced Mendoza to time served. Mendoza now
1 In Pereira, the Supreme Court held that the stop-time rule,
which governs the length of an alien's continuous physical presence
in the United States for the purpose of an application for
cancellation of removal, applies once "the alien is served a notice
to appear under [8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)]." 138 S. Ct. at 2110. It
concluded that a notice to appear "that does not inform a
noncitizen when and where to appear for removal proceedings is not
a 'notice to appear under section 1229(a)' and therefore does not
trigger the stop-time rule." Id.
-2-
appeals this denial. He contends that: (1) the immigration court
lacked jurisdiction to consider his removal because the notice to
appear served on him did not include the date and time of the
hearing; and (2) if the immigration court lacked jurisdiction,
then for that reason he need not satisfy the requirements of
section 1326(d) in order to successfully challenge in this
subsequent criminal proceeding the order resulting in his removal.
Because we conclude that the immigration court did not lack
jurisdiction, we reject Mendoza's appeal without needing to
consider whether he would need to satisfy section 1326(d) if he
could show that the immigration court lacked jurisdiction over his
removal.
I.
Mendoza is a native and citizen of Mexico. In 2003 and
2009, he was arrested for being unlawfully present in the United
States and was granted voluntary departure to Mexico on both
occasions. Mendoza returned to the United States without approval
later in 2009.
On May 7, 2014, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
("ICE") agents arrested Mendoza in New Hampshire. The next day,
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") personally served
Mendoza with a notice to appear, which informed him that he was
being charged with removability based on his unlawful presence in
-3-
the United States and directed him to appear before an immigration
judge in Boston at an unspecified date and time. On May 28, 2014,
the immigration court issued a notice of hearing, which directed
Mendoza to appear in the Boston immigration court in seven days
-- on June 4, 2014, at 8:00 a.m. -- for his removal proceeding.
According to annotations on the document, personal service was
made by delivery to Mendoza's attorney or representative and to
DHS. However, the name of his attorney on the document was
inexplicably crossed out. At the hearing, Mendoza requested
voluntary departure, but the immigration judge ordered him removed
to Mexico. Mendoza subsequently waived any appeal. Ultimately,
he was deported on June 26, 2014.
Years later, on November 28, 2017, New Hampshire State
Police conducted a stop of a commercial vehicle. Mendoza was the
driver. He admitted to the state trooper that he did not have a
driver's license, that he was unlawfully present in the United
States, and that he had been previously deported. After
confirming his identity, ICE arrested Mendoza.
II.
On December 13, 2017, a grand jury sitting in the
U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire returned a
one-count indictment charging Mendoza with reentry after
-4-
deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Mendoza pleaded
guilty to the offense on May 31, 2018.
While Mendoza awaited sentencing, the Supreme Court
decided Pereira, 138 S. Ct. at 2105. As a result, Mendoza filed
a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and dismiss the indictment,
contending that, under Pereira, the notice to appear in his
underlying immigration case was defective because it failed to
include the date and time of the removal hearing and, consequently,
that defect "deprive[d] the immigration court of jurisdiction to
issue [the removal order]." In Mendoza's view, because the 2014
removal was invalid, he was legally innocent of reentry after
deportation.
The district court denied Mendoza's motion, rejecting
his argument that the immigration court lacked subject-matter
jurisdiction in 2014.2 It further concluded that, in any event,
Mendoza had to satisfy the requirements set forth in 8 U.S.C.
§ 1326(d) in order to challenge the validity of the underlying
removal order during his criminal case, which Mendoza had failed
2 The district court aptly noted that there was a split among the
lower courts on whether removal orders entered after a defective
notice to appear under Pereira had been served were void for lack
of subject-matter jurisdiction and that, at the time, no court of
appeals had addressed the issue.
-5-
to do. Thus, the court held that Mendoza could not withdraw his
guilty plea or challenge the indictment. This appeal ensued.
III.
Our review of a district court's denial of a
plea-withdrawal motion is for abuse of discretion. United States
v. Caramadre, 807 F.3d 359, 367 (1st Cir. 2015). To make that
assessment, we consider "the strength of the reasons offered in
support of the motion," keeping in mind that a defendant may
withdraw his plea so long as he shows that there is "a fair and
just reason" for requesting the withdrawal. United States v.
Powell, 925 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2018); see United States v.
González-Arias, 946 F.3d 17, 28 (1st Cir. 2019). "In determining
whether the defendant offered such a 'fair and just reason,'" we
review the district court's legal conclusions de novo. Powell,
925 F.3d at 4 (citing United States v. Gates, 709 F.3d 58, 69 (1st
Cir. 2013)).
Similarly, "[w]hen reviewing the trial court's denial of
a motion to dismiss an indictment, we review questions of law de
novo." United States v. Doe, 741 F.3d 217, 226 (1st Cir. 2013)
(citing United States v. López-Matías, 522 F.3d 150, 153 (1st Cir.
2008)). Any factual findings made by the district court are
reviewed for clear error, and its "ultimate ruling" for abuse of
discretion. Id.
-6-
IV.
Mendoza's overarching reason for requesting the
withdrawal of his guilty plea is that, in his view, the immigration
court's 2014 removal order -- upon which his reentry after
deportation conviction is premised -- is invalid because the
immigration court lacked jurisdiction over his removal
proceedings. His theory rests on the contention that the notice
to appear that initiated his removal proceedings in 2014 was
defective because it did not contain the date or time of his
removal hearing. Mendoza avers that the inclusion of that
information was required both by statute, see 8 U.S.C.
§ 1229(a)(1), and by the Supreme Court's decision in Pereira.
Because his removal is a "nullity," his argument goes, it cannot
support his conviction, and he is innocent of that offense. Thus,
he contends that the district court erred in not allowing him to
withdraw his guilty plea.
We have already squarely rejected the contention that
the omission of the initial hearing date and time in a notice to
appear deprives the immigration court of jurisdiction over a
removal proceeding. See Goncalves Pontes v. Barr, 938 F.3d 1 (1st
Cir. 2019); see also Arévalo v. Barr, 950 F.3d 15, 20 (1st Cir.
2020); Ferreira v. Barr, 939 F.3d 44, 45 (1st Cir. 2019). We held
in Goncalves Pontes that the jurisdiction of an immigration court
-7-
is governed by agency regulation, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.14(a), not
by 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a) -- the statute upon which Mendoza relies --
and that the regulations do not concern the written notice
contemplated in that statute. See 938 F.3d at 3-4, 6. While
section 1229(a) governs the information that must be provided to
noncitizens about their impending removal hearings -- i.e., "the
'time' and 'place,' that would enable them 'to appear' at the
removal hearing in the first place," id. at 6 (quoting Pereira,
138 S. Ct. at 2115) -- the regulations "set forth the process by
which the immigration court obtains jurisdiction over a removal
proceeding," id. (citing 8 C.F.R. § 1003.14). And the regulations
do not require that the time and place of the initial hearing be
included in the notice to appear in order to commence removal
proceedings. Id. at 4. Thus, we concluded that an undated notice
to appear that complies with the regulations is effective to confer
jurisdiction upon the immigration court. Id. at 7.
In this case, there is no suggestion that Mendoza's
notice to appear did not comply with the regulations. Therefore,
pursuant to our holding in Goncalves Pontes, Mendoza's
jurisdictional quarrel is unavailing.
However, Mendoza resists this conclusion by arguing that
our holding in Goncalves Pontes depends on the proper service of
a notice of hearing that "cures" an undated notice to appear.
-8-
Because he was not properly or timely served with the notice of
hearing, he says, the defect in the notice to appear was not cured,
and thus, this "two-step process" did not vest the immigration
court with jurisdiction.
Contrary to Mendoza's contention, we did not tie our
holding in Goncalves Pontes to a successful service of a notice of
hearing.3 In fact, we held -- without mentioning service of a
notice of hearing -- that other documents, such as a notice of
referral to an immigration judge and a notice of intention to
rescind and request for hearing by an alien, see 8 C.F.R.
§ 1003.13, are charging documents that "establish the immigration
court's jurisdiction over a case, commencing removal proceedings
against an alien without resort to a Notice to Appear."
Goncalves Pontes, 938 F.3d at 6-7. We merely added at the end of
the opinion, as a "coda" -- meaning in addition to what we had
previously expressed -- that the Board of Immigration Appeals (the
"BIA") had "likewise concluded that [a notice to appear] that is
served without specification of the time and place of the initial
3 This is not to say that Mendoza could not have successfully
objected to the timing of his removal hearing due to inadequate or
untimely service of notice. He made no such argument, and instead
waived his right to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals
from the decision of the immigration court. Nor, for that matter,
does he contend that he can satisfy the requirements of
section 1326.
-9-
hearing may be sufficient to confer subject-matter jurisdiction on
an immigration court in removal proceedings." Id. at 7 (emphasis
added) (citing In re Bermúdez-Cota, 27 I. & N. Dec. 441, 447 (BIA
2018)). And in Bermúdez-Cota, the BIA "clarified its view" that
a notice to appear "'vests an Immigration Judge with jurisdiction
over the removal proceedings' when a notice of hearing is sent to
the alien in advance of those proceedings." Id. (quoting
Bermúdez-Cota, 27 I. & N. Dec. at 447). We simply concluded from
this that the agency's interpretation of its regulations was
"entitled to great deference." Id. (quoting Sidell v. Comm'r.,
225 F.3d 103, 109 (1st Cir. 2000)). Notably, we clarified in a
footnote that we did not decide the question of whether a two-step
process could satisfy the time and date requirements of the statute
at issue in Pereira. Id. at 7 n.2. Moreover, we have confirmed
the holding in Goncalves Pontes that jurisdiction vests with the
issuance of a notice to appear that complies with the regulations
in subsequent cases without resorting to an inquiry into whether
service of a notice of hearing was appropriate or was even made.
See, e.g., Ferreira, 939 F.3d at 45. Therefore, even if neither
Mendoza nor his counsel was served with the notice of hearing, as
Mendoza avers, that does not defeat the application of
Goncalves Pontes's holding, which confirms that the immigration
court had jurisdiction over his removal.
-10-
Next, Mendoza attempts to circumvent Goncalves Pontes's
holding by arguing that it was wrongly decided. But the law of
the circuit doctrine dooms this claim, as we are "bound by prior
panel decisions that are closely on point," United States v. Wurie,
867 F.3d 28, 34 (1st Cir. 2017) (quoting San Juan Cable LLC v.
P.R. Tel. Co., 612 F.3d 25, 33 (1st Cir. 2010)), "absent any
intervening authority," Mass. Delivery Ass'n v. Healey, 821 F.3d
187, 192 (1st Cir. 2016) (quoting United States v. Mouscardy, 722
F.3d 68, 77 (1st Cir. 2013)). Mendoza does not suggest that there
is any such authority, nor does he "offer[] a sound reason for
believing that the [Goncalves Pontes] panel would change its
collective mind," Wurie, 867 F.3d at 34. Hence, Goncalves Pontes
controls our decision here, and Mendoza's jurisdictional argument
fails, and since he does not otherwise argue that he can satisfy
the requirements of section 1326(d) for collaterally challenging
his removal order in this subsequent criminal proceeding, his
appeal fails.
V.
For the foregoing reasons, the district court's denial
of Mendoza's motion to withdraw his guilty plea and dismiss the
indictment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
-11-