The opinion filed on June 8, 2015, and published at 788 F.3d 1094, is hereby amended as follows:
With these amendments, the petition for panel rehearing is
The petition for rehearing and the petition for rehearing en bane are
IKUTA, Circuit Judge:
Humberto Gonzalez-Flores appeals from the district court's denial of his motion to dismiss an information charging him under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 with being an alien found in the United States after he was removed in 2004. We affirm. Gonzalez-Flores may not bring a collateral attack against the removal order underlying his conviction because any error at the 2004 removal proceedings was not prejudicial. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d)(3); United States v. Vidal-Mendoza, 705 F.3d 1012, 1015-16 (9th Cir.2013).
Gonzalez-Flores, a citizen of Mexico, entered the United States illegally in 1999. He was 15 years old at the time of entry. He began attending high school, but dropped out after the eleventh grade to start working. He worked for several years at Los Angeles International Airport loading food onto passenger planes. On November 4, 2004, he was convicted of robbery in violation of California Penal Code § 211
In November 2004, after his robbery conviction, Gonzalez-Flores was placed in removal proceedings. He appeared pro se
After the IJ asked Gonzalez-Flores if there was any other information he wanted to tell the court and Gonzalez-Flores said "no," the IJ explained his conclusion:
In response to further questions, Gonzalez-Flores stated he understood and accepted the IJ's decision, and did not wish to appeal it. Accordingly, the IJ ordered him removed.
Following his removal in 2004, Gonzalez-Flores illegally reentered the United States in 2008. The government reinstated his removal order, and removed him again on February 29, 2008. In April 2013, he made a third illegal entry and was arrested near the border between Mexico and the United States. The government charged him with being an alien found in the United States after removal, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. He moved to dismiss the information under § 1326(d), claiming his 2004 removal order was invalid because the IJ had violated his due process rights by failing to inform him that he might be eligible for voluntary departure. The district court denied the motion on the ground that no due process violation
We review de novo a district court's denial of an alien's collateral challenge to a prior deportation order under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d). United States v. Gonzalez-Valerio, 342 F.3d 1051, 1053 (9th Cir. 2003).
As originally enacted, § 1326 did not permit collateral attacks on a prior order of deportation. United States v. Mendoza-Lopez, 481 U.S. 828, 837, 107 S.Ct. 2148, 95 L.Ed.2d 772 (1987). In response to the Supreme Court's determination that imposition of criminal penalties based on a prior administrative proceeding violated due process unless there was "some meaningful review of the administrative proceeding," id. at 837-38, 107 S.Ct. 2148, Congress added § 1326(d), see United States v. Arias-Ordonez, 597 F.3d 972, 976 (9th Cir.2010). As required by Mendoza-Lopez, this section gives a defendant the opportunity to challenge the validity of a prior deportation order in a criminal proceeding arising under § 1326. An alien bringing such a collateral attack is required to prove that: "(1) the alien exhausted any administrative remedies that may have been available to seek relief against the order; (2) the deportation proceedings at which the order was issued improperly deprived the alien of the opportunity for judicial review; and (3) the entry of the order was fundamentally unfair." 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d).
In applying § 1326(d), our cases generally focus on a single type of defect in a deportation hearing: the IJ's failure to comply with 8 C.F.R. § 1240.11(a)(2). See, e.g., Vidal-Mendoza, 705 F.3d at 1015. Under § 1240.11(a)(2), if an alien seeking lawful permanent resident status applies to the IJ for a waiver of a ground of inadmissibility, the IJ "shall inform the alien of his or her apparent eligibility to apply for any of the benefits enumerated in this chapter and shall afford the alien an opportunity to make application during the hearing." 8 C.F.R. § 1240.11(a)(2).
For purposes of § 1326(d), the IJ's non-compliance with § 1240.11(a)(2) relieves the alien of the burden of proving exhaustion of administrative remedies under § 1326(d)(1) because "we deem the alien's waiver of the right to an administrative appeal to have been insufficiently considered and intelligent." Vidal-Mendoza, 705 F.3d at 1015 (internal quotation marks omitted). The IJ's regulatory error also proves that the alien was improperly deprived of the opportunity for judicial review pursuant to § 1326(d)(2), because "an alien who is not made aware that he has a right to seek relief necessarily has no meaningful opportunity to appeal the fact that he was not advised of that right." Arrieta, 224 F.3d at 1079. Finally, if the IJ's error was prejudicial to the alien, then the alien can establish that the removal order "was fundamentally unfair" for purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d)(3). Vidal-Mendoza, 705 F.3d at 1016. To prove prejudice, an alien seeking a discretionary form of relief must make a "plausible showing" that an IJ presented with all of the facts would exercise discretion in the alien's favor. United States v. Rojas-Pedroza, 716 F.3d 1253, 1263-64 (9th Cir. 2013). "[T]he defendant bears the burden of proving prejudice under § 1326(d)(3)." United States v. Valdez-Novoa, 780 F.3d 906, 916-17 (9th Cir.2015).
We employ a two-step process for determining whether an alien claiming apparent eligibility for voluntary departure has made this showing. Rojas-Pedroza, 716 F.3d at 1263. First, we consider the positive and negative factors an IJ would consider relevant to an exercise of discretion. See id. at 1264-65. Positive factors include "long residence, close family ties to the United States, and humanitarian needs." Id. at 1265. Negative factors include "the nature and underlying circumstances of the deportation ground at issue; additional violations of the immigration laws; the existence, seriousness, and recency of any criminal record; and any other evidence of bad character or the undesirability of the applicant as a permanent resident." Id. (quoting Matter of Arguelles-Campos, 22 I. & N. Dec. 811, 817 (BIA 1999)).
Second, we determine whether, in light of these factors and the circumstances of the alien's case, the alien carried the burden of proving "it was plausible (not merely conceivable) that the IJ would have exercised his discretion in the alien's favor." Id. at 1263 (internal quotation marks omitted). "[E]stablishing `plausibility' requires more than establishing a mere `possibility.'" United States v. Barajas-Alvarado, 655 F.3d 1077, 1089 (9th Cir. 2011). In assessing whether the alien carried this burden, we "focus on whether
We now turn to the facts of this case, and consider whether Gonzalez-Flores can bring a collateral attack on his prior deportation order under § 1326(d). Gonzalez-Flores claims that he satisfies the three requirements for bringing such a collateral attack because the IJ failed to inform him of his "apparent eligibility to apply for" voluntary departure. See 8 C.F.R. § 1240.11(a)(2). We need not decide whether the IJ adequately informed Gonzalez-Flores of his eligibility for voluntary departure because, even if the IJ's detailed colloquy with Gonzalez-Flores fell short of the requirements of § 1240.11(a)(2), Gonzalez-Flores suffered no prejudice from any such error, and therefore cannot demonstrate that the entry of the removal order was "fundamentally unfair" for purposes of § 1326(d)(3). See Rojas-Pedroza, 716 F.3d at 1266-67.
Applying our two-part test for prejudice, we first consider the positive and negative factors that are relevant to the IJ's exercise of discretion. Here, Gonzalez-Flores's positive equities are minimal: he lived in the United States for five years, he attended high school from age 15 through the eleventh grade, and he held a job for a few years from when he left high school until he committed a robbery. Although the IJ was not informed of Gonzalez-Flores's high school attendance and work history, these additional facts do not contradict the IJ's conclusion that Gonzalez-Flores's equities were "very few except for those normally associated with any residence of any duration." Because none of Gonzalez-Flores's family members were United States citizens or lawful permanent residents, and because he resided in the United States for only five years, he lacked close family ties to the United States or a long residence here, the most typical favorable equities deemed important in other cases. See Arguelles-Campos, 22 I. & N. Dec. at 817. On the other hand, his negative equities are significant. He was convicted of robbery, which the IJ described as "a crime of violence as well as a crime of theft," for which he was sentenced to 210 days in jail, plus probation. He was also convicted of a prior misdemeanor.
Second, we consider whether Gonzalez-Flores has carried his burden of showing that "aliens with similar circumstances received relief." See Rojas-Pedroza, 716 F.3d at 1263. The Ninth Circuit cases identified by Gonzalez-Flores involve aliens who had far more significant positive equities, even though they also had more significant negative equities. Gonzalez-Flores has pointed to no case in which an alien with so few positive equities has been granted relief. In United States v. Alcazar-Bustos, we held that it was plausible a defendant would be granted voluntary departure where the defendant had lived in the United States since he was two months old and had a United States citizen wife and child, even though the defendant's criminal history included firearm possession convictions, and showed association with gang members and prior drug use. 382 Fed.Appx. 568, 569-71 (9th Cir. 2010). Likewise, in United States v. Vasallo-Martinez, we held it was plausible a defendant would be granted voluntary departure where the defendant resided in the United States for 21 years, had a United
Gonzalez-Flores has also identified opinions in which the BIA held that an alien was entitled to voluntary departure, but each of those cases similarly involved aliens with significant positive equities. In Matter of Gonzales-Figeroa, the BIA upheld a grant of voluntary departure where the alien had lived in the United States for fifteen years, had a pending visa petition filed by his lawful permanent resident mother, and his sister and two nieces were United States citizens. 2006 WL 729784, at *1-2 (BIA Feb. 10, 2006). Although the alien in that case had four assault convictions and a conviction for resisting arrest, the BIA credited the alien's testimony that the convictions were the result of a drinking problem, and that he no longer drank after successfully completing a rehabilitation program. Id. at *1. Similarly, in Matter of Hernandez-Garcia, the BIA reversed a denial of voluntary departure where the alien had a United States citizen wife and child, even though the alien had impersonated a United States citizen in order to procure a passport. 2012 WL 1705671, at *1 (BIA Apr. 11, 2012); see also Matter of Pineda-Castellanos, 2005 WL 3833024, at *1-2 (BIA Nov. 16, 2005) (affirming an IJ's grant of voluntary departure to an alien with a lawful permanent resident wife and three children, but indicating that such relief was barely warranted given the negative equities of six criminal convictions). By contrast, the BIA affirmed a denial of voluntary departure where the alien was arrested twice for driving on a suspended license and once for a DUI, despite the alien's family ties to the United States. Matter of Posadas-Posadas, 2012 WL 371659, at *1-2 (BIA Jan. 18, 2012).
As these cases illustrate, Gonzalez-Flores has failed to carry his burden of showing that aliens with his scant positive equities received relief. See Rojas-Pedroza, 716 F.3d at 1263. In fact, Gonzalez-Flores has failed to identify even a single case on point, which in any event would be insufficient on its own. See Valdez-Novoa, 780 F.3d at 920-21.
Because Gonzalez-Flores has failed to carry his burden of showing a grant of relief was "plausible," he has not demonstrated that any error on the part of the IJ in informing him of the availability of voluntary departure prejudiced him. See id. at 921. A removal order is "fundamentally unfair" for purposes of § 1326(d)(3) only if the alien "suffered prejudice as a result of the defects" in the deportation proceeding, United States v. Ubaldo-Figueroa, 364 F.3d 1042, 1048 (9th Cir.2004) (internal quotation marks omitted), and therefore Gonzalez-Flores has not demonstrated that he satisfied this requirement. Because Gonzalez-Flores has not met all of the requirements of § 1326(d), he may not collaterally attack his deportation order.