Opinion ID: 763744
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gutierrez-Martinez

Text: 13 Gutierrez-Martinez is a citizen of Colombia who entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident on January 30, 1986. On September 29, 1988, Gutierrez-Martinez pled guilty to and was convicted of one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. On October 15, 1995, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ordered Gutierrez-Martinez to show cause why he should not be deported on the basis of his conviction for possession of a controlled substance in violation of INA § 241(a)(2)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2)(B)(i) (1994), (current version codified at 8 U.S.C.A. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i) (West 1999)). On March 26, 1996, the IJ found Gutierrez-Martinez deportable because of his status as a convicted drug offender, but granted him additional time to file an application for waiver of deportation under the earlier INA § 212(c). 14 On April 26, 1996, Gutierrez-Martinez filed his application for a § 212(c) waiver. At a hearing on May 14, 1996, the IJ held that under the new provisions of the AEDPA, which became effective two days before Gutierrez-Martinez filed his waiver application, Gutierrez-Martinez was statutorily ineligible for § 212(c) relief. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed this holding and dismissed Gutierrez-Martinez' appeal. Gutierrez-Martinez filed a petition for review of the BIA's order with this court. We dismissed that petition for lack of jurisdiction, citing IIRIRA §§ 309(c)(4)(E) & (G). 6 On November 6, 1997, Gutierrez-Martinez then filed a petition for habeas corpus review under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in the district court. 15 The district court found that habeas corpus jurisdiction under § 2241 survived the enactment of AEDPA and IIRIRA. The court held, however, that habeas relief is available only if the Petitioner can identify a grave constitutional error or a fundamental miscarriage of justice in his deportation proceedings. R1-5-6. The district court further determined, however, that retroactive application of AEDPA § 440(d) to eliminate Gutierrez-Martinez' eligibility for the § 212(c) waiver process was not a constitutional error and, therefore, could not be reviewed on the limited scope of habeas corpus review available under the new immigration regime. The district court also rejected Gutierrez-Martinez' claim that AEDPA § 440(d) violated the equal protection guarantee of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it distinguished between deportable and excludable aliens. As a result, the district court denied Gutierrez-Martinez' petition for habeas corpus review. Gutierrez-Martinez now appeals that decision.