PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 23-1676

DAVID ORLANDO MARQUEZ CRUZ,

Petitioner,

v.

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,

Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Argued: March 19, 2024 Decided: May 14, 2024

Before WILKINSON, RICHARDSON, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges.

Petition denied by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Richardson and Judge Quattlebaum joined.

ARGUED: Benjamin Ross Winograd, IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE APPELLATE CENTER, LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, for Petitioner. Imran Raza Zaidi, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Himedes V. Chicas, JEZIC & MOYSE, LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland, for Petitioner. Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Jennifer J. Keeney, Assistant Director, Melissa K. Lott, Senior Litigation Counsel, Criminal Immigration Team, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. USCA4 Appeal: 23-1676 Doc: 52 Filed: 05/14/2024 Pg: 2 of 14

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

The Immigration and Nationality Act instructs that any noncitizen convicted of a

crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment is subject to removal. David

Orlando Marquez Cruz, a Salvadoran national, was convicted of attempted second degree

child sexual abuse in violation of Washington, D.C., law. He has been ordered to be

removed from the United States based on that conviction. The only question on appeal is

whether Cruz’s conviction qualifies him for removal. We hold that it does.

I.

Cruz became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2009 when he was

eighteen years old. In February 2017, when Cruz was twenty-six years old, he began a

sexual relationship with a fifteen-year-old child. The victim was a family friend from

El Salvador whom Cruz had known for years. Indeed, Cruz had attended her fifteenth

birthday party not long before their first sexual encounter.

The child’s mother soon discovered the relationship and pressed charges. Cruz was

initially arrested in March 2017 and charged with first degree child sexual abuse under

D.C. Code 22-3008. He was released pending a hearing with a protective order prohibiting

him from having contact with the victim. But his release was short lived. Just four months

later, Cruz violated the protective order by having sex with the victim at least two more

times and was rearrested in November 2017.

Though Cruz had originally been charged with first degree child sexual abuse, he

eventually pleaded guilty to attempted second degree child sexual abuse under D.C. Code

22-3009 and 22-3018. He was sentenced to eighteen months’ incarceration and twenty-

2 USCA4 Appeal: 23-1676 Doc: 52 Filed: 05/14/2024 Pg: 3 of 14

four months’ supervised release. His sentence was suspended as to all but time served and

he was released from custody in March 2018.

The consequences of Cruz’s conviction, however, extended beyond his sentence.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides that some convictions—including

convictions for child abuse and certain aggravated felonies—can serve as grounds for

rem

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