BIA decision on Simple Possession: Matter of Moradel

The Board of Immigration Appeals announced its decision on the Matter of Jorge Moradel on June 23, 2021.   An Immigration Judge previously found that the responded, Mr. Moradel, was ineligible for a waiver of inadmissibility, and therefore ineligible for adjustment of status, based on a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.  Mr. Moradel had previously been granted classification as a Special Immigrant Juvenile.

In December 2017, he was convicted of possession of under 50 grams of marijuana under New Jersey state law, and Mr. Moradel conceded in front of an Immigration Judge that this conviction made him inadmissible as an alien convicted of an offense related to a controlled substance.  He attempted to seek relief from removal through adjustment of status, but the Immigration Judge found that his inadmissibility made him ineligible to adjust status.  Mr. Moradel asked the judge to wave his inadmissibility under Section 245(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that “…the Attorney General may waive other paragraphs of section 212(a) (other than paragraphs (2)(A), (2)(B), (2)(C) (except for so much of such paragraph as related to a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana), (3)(A), (3)(B), (3)(C), and (3)(E)) in the case of individual aliens for humanitarian purposes, family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest.”

The BIA reviewed the scope of the “simple possession” exception and determined that an applicant for adjustment of status with Special Immigrant Juvenile status may, in conjunction with a waiver under section 245(h)(2)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, seek to waive his or her inadmissibility based on a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.  However, the BIA found that the “simple possession” exception at section 245(h)(2)(B) calls for a circumstance-specific inquiry into the nature of the conduct surrounding an applicant’s simple possession offense.  The BIA remanded the case to the Immigration Judge to make a finding about the specific circumstances of Mr. Moradel’s possession offense.