Opinion ID: 795417
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether a Stay of Voluntary Departure Should Issue Here

Text: 46 The parties agree that if we hold that we have the authority to issue a stay of the order of voluntary departure — as we now have — the usual criteria for obtaining injunctive relief apply. Our task is therefore to balance the likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable injury if a stay is denied, substantial injury to the party opposing a stay if one is issued, and the public interest. Mohammed, 309 F.3d at 100 (applying these criteria to the issuance of stays of removal); see also El Himri, 344 F.3d at 1262-63 (applying these criteria to the issuance of stays of voluntary departure); Nwakanma, 352 F.3d at 328 (same). We have treated these criteria somewhat like a sliding scale, citing approvingly other circuits' formulation that [t]he necessary `level' or `degree' of possibility of success will vary according to the court's assessment of the other stay factors and explaining that [t]he probability of success that must be demonstrated is inversely proportional to the amount of irreparable injury plaintiff will suffer absent the stay. Simply stated, more of one excuses less of the other. Mohammed, 309 F.3d at 101 (citing Wash. Metro. Area Transit Comm'n v. Holiday Tours, Inc., 559 F.2d 841, 843 (D.C.Cir.1977) (internal citation marks and changes omitted) and Mich. Coal. of Radioactive Material Users, Inc. v. Griepentrog, 945 F.2d 150, 153 (6th Cir.1991) (internal change omitted)). 47 Applying this standard here, we conclude that the stay should issue because Thapa has demonstrated some possibility of success and the balance of hardships tips decidedly in his favor. 4 48 According to the limited papers before us at this stage, Thapa makes two different arguments in his petition for review: first, that he was served with an invalid NTA in that the NTA was not issued by any of the officers listed in 8 C.F.R. § 239.1(a) as being authorized to so issue NTAs, and second, that the BIA abused its discretion by denying his motion for a continuance based on a pending labor certification. 49 We doubt that Thapa has much likelihood of success on the first argument. Notwithstanding his citation to Montilla v. INS, 926 F.2d 162 (2d Cir.1991), in which we remanded to the BIA a case in which the agency had declined to follow its own regulation, the regulation at issue in that case involved the petitioner's right to be represented by counsel at deportation proceedings, and the petitioner had definitely established prejudice. We do not believe that the mere lack of a signature on the NTA, where the proper signature was on the NTA submitted to the immigration court and where the substance of the NTAs was the same, rises anywhere near this level. 50 However, we believe that Thapa has a somewhat stronger chance of success on the second argument. Although we have recently issued two decisions finding no abuse of discretion in IJs' refusals to grant continuances and placing a heavy burden on the petitioner to establish abuse of discretion, we agree with Thapa that those decisions are distinguishable. In Morgan v. Gonzales, 445 F.3d 549 (2d Cir.2006), we held that there was no abuse of discretion in denying a continuance so that a second petition to adjust status on the basis of a marriage could be adjudicated where the marriage in question had already been determined not to be bona fide. In contrast, Thapa's labor certification had never been denied, and he was proceeding in good faith. In Sanusi v. Gonzales, 445 F.3d 193 (2d Cir.2006) (per curiam), we found no abuse of discretion in denying a continuance where the petitioner had already been granted two continuances and was simply seeking to put more medical evidence in the record to support a CAT claim (and where there had been an adverse credibility finding on the other claims). Here, in contrast, Thapa's labor certification was entirely out of his hands at the time of the hearing; there was nothing he could do to move the process along, and he had not been found incredible on any point. 51 A case that may further work in Thapa's favor is the Seventh Circuit's decision in Subhan v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 591 (7th Cir. 2004), in which the court found (although not under abuse of discretion review) that the IJ erred by not granting the petitioner a third continuance where the ground for the application was adjustment to status based on employment entitlement. The court observed critically that the denial was based simply on the fact that the labor authorities had not acted yet — a circumstance entirely out of the petitioner's control — instead of anything more particularized to the alien ( e.g., he had behaved in a dilatory fashion, he was unqualified for employment certification, etc.) or more policy-based ( e.g., an illegal alien should not be able to delay his removal beyond a year). See id. at 593-94. The court also emphasized the difficulty in speeding up the labor departments' procedures and the lack of power an alien has with respect to the labor departments' actions. See id. at 593 (He endeavored — with all due diligence, so far as appears — to obtain them; but the wheels of bureaucracy grind slow, and at the end of six months he had not succeeded in obtaining them and so he sought and was granted a further six-month continuance. Again through no laxity or other fault on his part, the labor departments did not act on his application within the further six-month period.). 5 52 While we cannot conclude on the record before us that, against this legal background, Thapa will ultimately prevail on the merits, we can conclude that Thapa has raised a substantial enough question to pass this first threshold. 53 As to the question of irreparable harm, this Circuit has granted a stay pending appeal where the likelihood of success is not high but the balance of hardships favors the applicant. Mohammed, 309 F.3d at 101. Even if Thapa's likelihood of success is not overwhelming, we agree with Thapa that he will face irreparable harm in the absence of a stay. On the one hand, if he were to depart voluntarily by the BIA's deadline, he would be inadmissible for ten years under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(B)(i)(II), which provides that [a]ny alien (other than an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence) who . . . has been unlawfully present in the United States for one year or more, and who again seeks admission within 10 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal from the United States, is inadmissible. Because Thapa falls into this category, even his approved employment certification would do him no good; no legal admission would be available to him for the next decade. On the other hand, if Thapa did not depart voluntarily by the deadline, he would also be prohibited from adjusting status based on the approved employment certification for ten years because of the consequences of violating orders of voluntary departure. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(d). The government argues that any harm Thapa faces as a result of not leaving the country is of his own doing and so is not irreparable; but given the catch-22 in which Thapa finds himself, we do not find that argument compelling. 54 In contrast, the government has not articulated any cognizable injury that it will suffer if Thapa receives a stay pending appeal. Moreover, we cannot see how the public interest would suffer from our grant of a stay. We agree with the government that there is a public interest in enforcing bargains between aliens and the government, but we do not see how granting a stay here undoes those bargains. There is no indication that Thapa will not carry out his agreement to leave voluntarily within the specified time frame in the event that we ultimately deny his petition for review. In the meantime, Thapa points out that he has no criminal history, he is not a danger to the security of the United States, and he has a job offer from a United States employer who is unable to fill the slot with a qualified American employee. In light of this background, we do not believe that the public is harmed by his staying while we consider his petition on the merits. 55 Accordingly, we reaffirm our grant of a stay of the order of voluntary departure.