Barros v. Garland

Jose Pedro Santos Faria Barros first entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1991, at the age of five. He came with the rest of his family, including his mother, father, and siblings, from Cape Verde. He has resided here ever since. In fact, Barros has never been back to Cape Verde. All of his immediate family resides here, too. Barros has a history of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and drug use. He attributes his struggles to a fall when he was 4 years old in which he struck his head. He began to experience headaches around age 11, and he says those headaches led to difficulty concentrating, which in turn led to depression and anxiety. His depression and anxiety, in turn, led to suicidal ideations and at least three suicide attempts. Barros also began using drugs around the time he turned 18. He says it started with crack cocaine, which he used to cope with his depression and anxiety. At age 32, he also started to use heroin. He's been to treatment at least three times, though he often relapsed. He last sought treatment not long before he was hauled before the immigration court in this case. And, as of February 2020, he had been sober for about ten months. Beginning in 2003, Barros began amassing a criminal rap sheet. He's been convicted six times, including four convictions for possession of controlled substances and two for breaking and entering. He's also been arrested at least an additional ten times for charges such as breaking and entering, malicious destruction of property, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, assault and battery, and prison vandalism. Barros has said that, on at least one of these occasions, he stole to get money for drugs.