Opinion ID: 3049970
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Source of Parole Authority

Text: Ortega-Cervantes contends that he was paroled into the United States pursuant to § 1182(d)(5)(A) rather than conditionally paroled pursuant to § 1226(a). We disagree. After 11386 ORTEGA-CERVANTES v. GONZALES border patrol agents apprehended Ortega-Cervantes on June 8, 2002, the INS issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant stated that Ortega-Cervantes “is within the country in violation of the immigration laws and is therefore liable to be taken into custody as authorized by section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act [8 U.S.C. § 1226].” Along with the warrant, the INS also issued a Notice of Custody Determination. It stated that, “[p]ursuant to the authority contained in section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act [8 U.S.C. § 1226],” Ortega-Cervantes would be “detained in the custody of this Service” pending the final resolution of his case, see 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a)(1), rather than “released under bond,” see id. § 1226(a)(2)(A), or “released on [his] own recognizance,” see id. § 1226(a)(2)(B). [1] When the INS redetermined Ortega-Cervantes’s custody status on June 20, 2002, it issued a form entitled “Order of Release on Recognizance.” The form declared that, “[i]n accordance with section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act [8 U.S.C. § 1226] . . . , you are being released on your own recognizance provided you comply with the following conditions.” Those conditions included reporting back to the INS “[a]t the conclusion of the criminal proceedings in which you are a witness.” It is apparent that the INS used the phrase “release on recognizance” as another name for “conditional parole” under § 1226(a). None of the forms issued to OrtegaCervantes makes any reference whatsoever to “parole into the United States” under § 1182(d)(5)(A), and immigration officials did not issue Ortega Cervantes an I-94 card, which is typically given to § 1182(d)(5)(A) parolees. [2] Ortega-Cervantes claims that his conditional parole should nevertheless be considered a “parole into the United States” within the meaning of § 1182(d)(5)(A) because the reason for his parole was to permit him to serve as a witness in the criminal prosecution of his smuggler. Ortega-Cervantes points out that one of the regulations issued under § 1182(d)(5)(A) states that parole into the United States may ORTEGA-CERVANTES v. GONZALES 11387 be granted to “[a]liens who will be witnesses in proceedings being, or to be, conducted by judicial, administrative, or legislative bodies in the United States.” 8 C.F.R. § 212.5(b)(4). The problem for Ortega-Cervantes is that this regulation applies only to aliens “who have been or are detained in accordance with § 235.3(b) or (c) of this chapter.” Id. § 212.5(b). Subsections 235.3(b) and (c) refer to certain “arriving aliens” and certain other aliens “determined to be inadmissible under [8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C) or (7)].” 8 C.F.R. § 235.3(b)(1), (c). Ortega-Cervantes is not one of these aliens. He is not an “arriving alien” within the meaning of the regulations because he was apprehended inside the United States after crossing the border illegally. See 8 C.F.R. § 1001.1(q) (defining “arriving alien” as “an applicant for admission coming or attempting to come into the United States at a port-ofentry, or an alien seeking transit through the United States at a port-of-entry, or an alien interdicted in international or United States waters and brought into the United States by any means, whether or not to a designated port-of-entry”). Nor is he an alien who was classified as inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C) or (7); instead, he was charged with being removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), which applies to aliens who are “present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, or who arrive[ ] in the United States at any time or place other than as designated by the Attorney General.” [3] We therefore hold that Ortega-Cervantes was conditionally paroled under the authority of § 1226(a) rather than paroled into the United States under the authority of § 1182(d)(5)(A). We do not hold that the government may never grant “parole into the United States” under § 1182(d)(5)(A) to aliens who are currently present in the United States but who were not inspected upon arrival at a port of entry. Although the regulations issued pursuant to § 1182(d)(5)(A) principally authorize parole into the United States for certain arriving aliens, they do not expressly prohibit the government from paroling other aliens “into the 11388 ORTEGA-CERVANTES v. GONZALES United States . . . for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A); see 8 C.F.R. § 212.5. We see nothing that would preclude the government from paroling such an alien into the United States under § 1182(d)(5)(A), rather than conditionally paroling the alien under § 1226(a), so long as the government makes its intention clear, for example, by expressly referencing § 1182(d)(5)(A) and by issuing an I-94 card. See INS, General Counsel’s Office, Legal Op. No. 98-10, 1998 WL 1806685 (Aug. 21, 1998) (concluding that “the Service may, in the exercise of discretion,” parole unlawful entrants pursuant to § 1182(d)(5)(A) “if . . . that parole would serve urgent humanitarian reasons or yield a significant public benefit”). But in this case we see no indication that the government intended to parole Ortega-Cervantes into the United States pursuant to § 1182(d)(5)(A).