Gonzalez v. Holder ( 2010 )


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  •                     FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    NAHUM GONZALEZ,                           
    Petitioner,          No. 05-74165
    v.
           Agency No.
    A031-086-033
    ERIC H. HOLDER     JR., Attorney
    General,                                             ORDER
    Respondent.
    
    On Petition for Review of an Order of the
    Board of Immigration Appeals
    Submitted February 1, 2010*
    Pasadena, California
    Filed February 8, 2010
    Before: Betty B. Fletcher, Harry Pregerson, and
    Susan P. Graber, Circuit Judges.
    COUNSEL
    Murray D. Hilts, San Diego, California, for the petitioner.
    Joan E. Smiley, Office of Immigration Litigation, U.S.
    Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., for
    the respondent.
    *The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without
    oral argument. Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
    2165
    2166                  GONZALEZ v. HOLDER
    ORDER
    Petitioner Nahum Gonzalez filed a petition for review of a
    final administrative order of removal. Petitioner’s wife and
    child are United States citizens. Petitioner sought, among
    other things, the right to apply for adjustment of status. Unfor-
    tunately, while this petition for review was pending, Petitioner
    died.
    The issues raised in Petitioner’s opening brief concern only
    his right to remain in the country and his right to apply for
    certain forms of relief from removal. We have examined the
    record and have determined that there are no collateral conse-
    quences of those claims, and neither Petitioner’s counsel nor
    the government has asserted that any collateral consequences
    exist. In these circumstances, Petitioner’s death has rendered
    the case moot. See McAllister v. Attorney General of the U.S.,
    
    444 F.3d 178
    , 184 (3d Cir. 2006) (dismissing as moot a peti-
    tion for review where the petitioner died); Zegarra-Gomez v.
    INS, 
    314 F.3d 1124
    , 1127 (9th Cir. 2003) (holding that a peti-
    tion for review is not moot if the petitioner “continues to suf-
    fer actual collateral consequences of his removal”); see also
    Spencer v. Kemna, 
    523 U.S. 1
    , 7 (1998) (holding that, when
    a habeas petitioner is no longer incarcerated, the habeas peti-
    tion is moot absent “collateral consequences”); United States
    v. Oberlin, 
    718 F.2d 894
    , 895 (9th Cir. 1983) (“Death pending
    appeal of a criminal conviction abates not only the appeal but
    all proceedings in the prosecution from its inception.”).
    Petition DISMISSED.