FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 04 2015
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ARGELIO GUERRERO-RENOVATO, No. 12-70936
Petitioner, Agency No. A077-152-256
v.
MEMORANDUM*
LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted June 2, 2015**
Seattle, Washington
Before: O’SCANNLAIN, TASHIMA, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.
Argelio Guerrero-Renovato petitions for review of the Board of Immigration
Appeals’ (BIA) decision upholding the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his
motion to suppress evidence and finding that he is removable. We have
jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and we deny the petition.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
In July 2007, Guerrero-Renovato was arrested by Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement Officers because he was standing with a group of Hispanic
individuals who had been “observed on various occasions speaking only Spanish.”
He admitted to the arresting officers that he was in the United States illegally.
At his removal hearing, Guerrero-Renovato moved to suppress evidence
obtained as a result of his arrest. The IJ denied the motion to suppress and found
him removable. The BIA sustained Guerrero-Renovato’s appeal of that decision,
finding egregious misconduct in the officers’ decision to arrest him “solely based
on [his] Hispanic appearance.” The BIA remanded the case for the IJ to consider
whether sufficient evidence obtained independently of the illegal arrest supported
his removal.
On remand, the government produced documentation of Guerrero-
Renovato’s 1998 voluntary departure proceedings. Guerrero-Renovato’s counsel
conceded that those documents were accurate and admitted that Guerrero-Renovato
had returned to the country illegally following his 1998 departure. The IJ
determined that Guerrero-Renovato was removable as charged, and the BIA
affirmed.
In this appeal, Guerrero-Renovato contends that removal proceedings should
have been terminated because evidence of his identity should have been suppressed
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as the fruit of an illegal arrest. It is well established, however, that “[t]he ‘body’ or
identity of a defendant or respondent in a criminal or civil proceeding is never
itself suppressible as a fruit of an unlawful arrest.” INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468
U.S. 1032, 1039 (1984). Even when the government effects an illegal arrest,
evidence obtained from a source not tainted by the misconduct is admissible to
prove that an alien is removable. See Medina-Sandoval v. INS, 524 F.2d 658, 659
(9th Cir. 1975). The IJ correctly determined that evidence of Guerrero-Renovato’s
1998 voluntary departure proceedings was admissible to prove that he was
removable because it was obtained from a source independent of his illegal arrest.
PETITION DENIED.
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