Opinion ID: 75479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Judicial Review After IIRIRA

Text: Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), Pub.L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-546, as amended by Extension of Stay in United States for Nurses Act, Pub.L. No. 104-302, 110 Stat. 3656 (1996), our authority to review a final order of deportation was altered from the previous grant under section 106 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1105a (1995). See Anin v. Reno, 188 F.3d 1273, 1275-76 n. 2. (11th Cir.1999) (per curiam). Specifically, IIRIRA § 306(b) repealed INA § 106, formerly 8 U.S.C. § 1105a, and IIRIRA § 306(a) replaced it with INA § 242, now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (1999). See id. Where a final order of deportation is entered more than thirty days after the September 30, 1996, enactment of IIRIRA, and the deportation proceedings were begun before April 1, 1997, the proceedings are not subject to the permanent new rules at INA § 242, 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (1999). See IIRIRA §§ 309(c)(1) & (4), reprinted in 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (history) (1999). Instead, IIRIRA's transitional changes in judicial review (transitional rules) govern such a case. See id. Mazen's deportation proceedings commenced in 1985 when the INS issued an OSC against him. Fedaa's proceedings began in January of 1996 with the issuance of an OSC as well. Final orders of deportation were entered against Mazen and Fedaa in October 1999 when the BIA, by written opinion, affirmed the IJ's decision denying relief under the INA. See 8 C.F.R. § 241.31 (2001) (explaining that an order of deportation shall become final upon dismissal of an appeal by the Board of Immigration Appeals, among other things). Thus, the Al Najjars are subject to the transitional rules, not the new permanent rules. See Anin, 188 F.3d at 1276 n. 2. Under the transitional rules, the 'new rules' do not apply unless a case meets the enumerated exceptions in IIRIRA § 309(c)(4). See id. That is, under the transitional rules, the old rules apply unless any of the transitional rules is triggered. See IIRIRA § 309(c)(1). Thus, as long as IIRIRA § 309(c) does not expressly alter our § 1105a review, we shall be guided by this old rule in reviewing a transitional alien's petition.4 See id. 4 While the general rule is that none of the new, permanent rules codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (1999), apply to transitional aliens, there is one exception articulated in IIRIRA § 306(c)(1) and made applicable to transitional aliens through IIRIRA § 309(a). See IIRIRA §§ 309(a) and 306(c)(1), reprinted in 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 & 1252 (history). Section 306(c)(1) of IIRIRA directs that the new, permanent rule in 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) (1999), shall apply without limitation to claims arising from all past, pending, or future exclusion, deportation, or removal proceedings. See IIRIRA § 306(c)(1). In turn, § 1252(g) states that [e]xcept as provided in this section and notwithstanding any other provision of law, no court shall have jurisdiction to hear any cause or claim by or on behalf of any alien arising from the decision or action by the Attorney General to commence proceedings, adjudicate cases, or execute removal orders against any alien under this Act. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) (1999). In Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471, 487, 119 S.Ct. 936, 142 L.Ed.2d 940 (1999), the Supreme Court explained that § 1252(g)'s jurisdictional bar applies only to a limited subset of deportation claims by precluding judicial review of the Attorney General's discrete acts of commenc[ing] proceedings, adjudicat[ing] cases, [and] execut[ing] removal orders. Id. at 482, 119 S.Ct. at 943. Construing § 1252(g) narrowly, the court reasoned that subsection (g) performs the function of categorically excluding from non-final-order judicial review—even as to transitional cases otherwise governed by § 1105a ...—certain specified decisions and actions of the INS. Id. at 483, 119 S.Ct. at 943 (emphasis added). Because the Al Najjars are transitional aliens petitioning the court of appeals for judicial review of the BIA's final orders of deportation, § 1252(g) does not alter our review.