On January 8, 2015, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that a conviction under Texas Penal Code Section 22.05 for recklessly engaging in conduct that places another in imminent danger of serious bodily injury is for a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) and thus held the respondent to be ineligible for cancellation of removal. The BIA initially cited to its own (and various federal courts of appeals’) prior precedents finding that specific intent is not a prerequisite to a CIMT; likewise, neither the seriousness of the offense nor the severity of the sentence is dispositive. The Board also reiterated previous holdings that recklessness is a culpable mental state if it entails a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk posed by one’s conduct (virtually identical language to the Texas Penal Code’s definition of “recklessly”), therefore finding the Code’s definition of recklessness to qualify as a form of scienter . Citing to its previous decision in Matter of Leal, 26 I&N Dec. 20 (BIA 2012), aff’d, 771 F.3d 1140 (9th Cir. 2014), the BIA held the Texas offense is categorically a CIMT. Matter of O.A. Hernandez, 26 I&N Dec. 464 (BIA 2015).
Immigration Law
