Opinion ID: 3049320
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 to address the constitutional and legal questions presented in Abebe’s petition. See Morales-Alegria v. Gonzales, 449 F.3d 1051, 1053 (9th Cir. 2006). We review de novo the BIA’s determination of purely legal questions. Simeonov v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 532 (9th Cir. 2004). However, the principles of deference to ABEBE v. GONZALES 8115 administrative agency decisions established in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 (1984), are applicable when a court reviews the BIA’s interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, 526 U.S. 415, 424 (1999). Where, as here, a provision of the INA is subject to more than one interpretation, we ask only whether the BIA’s interpretation is a reasonable one. Vasquez-Lopez v. Ashcroft, 343 F.3d 961, 969-70 (9th Cir. 2003). Abebe argues that the Blake holding is not owed deference (1) because it raises serious constitutional concerns—both in terms of equal protection and retroactivity; and (2) because it conflicts with the statute, regulations, and prior caselaw. While it is true that an agency’s construction of its governing statute must be rejected if it raises serious constitutional concerns and “a less constitutionally troubling construction is readily available,” Williams v. Babbit, 115 F.3d 657, 666 (9th Cir. 1997), we address the non-constitutional issues first.

[1] Abebe argues that Blake is inconsistent with the text of § 212(c) as it stood at the time of his guilty plea in 1992. Aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence who temporarily proceeded abroad voluntarily . . . and who are returning to a lawful unrelinquished domicile of seven consecutive years, may be admitted in the discretion of the Attorney General without regard to the provisions of subsection (a) . . . The first sentence of this subsection shall not apply to an alien who has been convicted of one or more aggra- vated felonies and has served for such felony or felonies a term of at least 5 years. 8116 ABEBE v. GONZALES 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c) (Supp. IV 1992) (emphasis added). Abebe draws our attention to the final sentence which was added by IMMACT 90, Pub. L. No. 101-649, § 511(a), 104 Stat. 4978, 5052, and argues that by barring § 212(c) relief to a subset of aggravated felons (those who had served at least five years), Congress expressed an intent to render all other aggravated felons eligible for relief. This argument fails. [2] At the time this sentence was added, BIA and court precedent had for many years indicated that § 212(c) relief was available only to those aliens charged as deportable on a ground comparable to a ground of exclusion. See Matter of T —, 5 I. & N. Dec. at 389-90; Matter of Granados, 16 I. & N. Dec. at 728; Matter of Wadud, 19 I. & N. Dec. 182; Cabasug, 847 F.2d at 1326 (holding § 212(c) relief unavailable unless the ground of deportation was “substantially identical in the exclusion and deportation statutes”). Congress is presumed to be familiar with the background of existing law when it legislates, Cannon v. Univ. of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 699 (1979), and therefore knew that some aggravated felons would fail to qualify for § 212(c) relief altogether. By its amendment, Congress clearly intended to further limit § 212(c) relief rather than to expand its availability. “If Congress intended to overturn the practice requiring comparability, it could have done so explicitly.” Vo, 2007 WL 816522 at ; see also Campos v. INS, 961 F.2d 309, 314 (1st Cir. 1992) (rejecting similar claim). Abebe has not shown that the Board’s interpretation of the statute is impermissible.
Abebe also alleges that the Blake holding is inconsistent with 8 C.F.R. § 1212.3(f) which provides in relevant part, An application for relief under former section 212(c) of the Act shall be denied if ABEBE v. GONZALES 8117 ... (4) The alien [is] removable on the basis of . . . an aggravated felony, except as follows:
tions] were entered pursuant to plea agreements made on or after November 29, 1990, but prior to April 24, 1996, is ineligible for section 212(c) relief only if he or she has served a [five year] . . . term of imprisonment . . . , and
relief on account of an aggravated felony conviction entered pursuant to a plea agreement that was made before November 29, 1990. 8 C.F.R. § 1212.3(f) (2004). [3] Abebe reasons that by specifying that an alien who pleaded guilty between November 29, 1990 and April 24, 1996 is ineligible only if he has served five years, subsection (f)(4)(i) implies that an alien in a similar situation but who served less than five years is eligible for relief. Abebe misreads the regulation. On a much more plausible reading, an alien who pleaded guilty during this time frame is stripped of § 212(c) eligibility by the workings of 8 C.F.R. § 1212.3(f)(4) only if he also served a five-year term. If an alien was ineligible for some other reason (say because he was not an LPR (8 C.F.R. § 1212.3(f)(1)) or was deportable on a ground lacking a comparable ground of exclusion (8 C.F.R. § 1212.3(f)(5)), then it would make no difference whether or not he served five years. [4] Abebe’s argument that Blake conflicts with 8 C.F.R. § 1212(f)(4)(ii) is similarly unpersuasive. That provision was added in response to this court’s decision in Toia v. Fasano, 334 F.3d 917 (9th Cir. 2003), which held that IMMACT 90’s 8118 ABEBE v. GONZALES amendment to § 212(c) (stripping eligibility from aggravated felons who served five years) could not be applied retroactively to aliens who pleaded guilty prior to its enactment. 69 Fed. Reg. 57830-31 (September 28, 2004). The Department of Justice acquiesced in the result of Toia and promulgated subsection (f)(4)(ii) to make clear that such an alien would not be stripped of eligibility as a result of IMMACT 90’s amendment. Id. The regulation in no way provides affirmative entitlement to relief to an alien who would have been ineligible for some other reason (for instance, if the ground of removability charged lacked a comparable ground of inadmissibility).
Abebe also argues that the Blake/Brieva rule conflicts with past Board interpretations of the statutory counterpart requirement and is therefore “entitled to considerably less deference.” INS v. Cardoza-Fonesca, 480 U.S. 421, 446 n.30 (1987). This contention deserves careful consideration. If it is true that the BIA consistently interpreted the comparable grounds test one way and then reversed course without adequate explanation, Blake might represent “an arbitrary and capricious change from agency practice,” Nat. Cable & Telecomms. Ass’n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 545 U.S. 967, 981 (2005), unworthy of Chevron deference. [5] However, Abebe’s premise is false—the BIA has not recently changed course but rather has maintained a consistent position for many years. As noted above, § 212(c) has generally not been interpreted as a form of relief applicable to all grounds of deportability.11 Rather, it has been said that “if a ground of deportation is also a ground of inadmissibility . . . 11 As a lone exception, the BIA did interpret § 212(c) in this manner for a brief period in 1990 but the Attorney General reversed the Board’s opinion in March 1991. See Matter of Hernandez-Casillas, 20 I. & N. Dec 262 (BIA 1990, Att’y Gen. 1991). ABEBE v. GONZALES 8119 section 212(c) can be invoked in a deportation hearing.” Matter of Salmon, 16 I. & N. Dec. 734 (BIA 1978). Abebe would have us believe that despite language comparing the ground of deportability charged with the grounds of excludability listed in § 212(a), the Board has, in practice, engaged in a subtly different sort of analysis. Namely, Abebe suggests that before Blake, the BIA compared the specific conduct rendering an alien deportable with the grounds of exclusion in § 212(a). It would follow, under this approach, that if an alien whose conduct—say engaging in the sexual abuse of a minor —would render him excludable for committing a CIMT, then § 212(c) would be available in deportation proceedings regardless of the ground of deportation alleged by the government. Abebe asserts that Matter of Granados supports his position. In that case, the BIA denied § 212(c) relief because “[c]onviction for possession of a . . . sawed-off shotgun [(the ground of excludability under § 241(a)(14))] is not a specified section 212(a) ground of excludability, nor a crime involving moral turpitude that would render the respondent excludable under section 212(a)(9) of the Act.” 16 I. & N. Dec. at 728. Petitioner seizes on the second half of this sentence and claims that whenever an alien’s conduct could expose him to the CIMT ground of excludability, he is eligible for § 212(c) relief. We need not decide if this is an accurate statement of the BIA’s position when Granados was decided, because it was clearly repudiated in 1984. In Matter of Wadud, an alien was found deportable under § 241(a)(5) for an immigration document fraud conviction. 19 I. & N. Dec. at 184 n.2. Mr. Wadud sought § 212(c) relief on the theory that the conduct supporting his conviction, and hence his deportability under § 241(a)(5), involved moral turpitude and that he was therefore excludable under § 212(a)(9) (CIMT). The BIA soundly rejected this argument characterizing its statement in Granados as dicta. Id. at 185. More importantly, the BIA clarified that the appropriate test was 8120 ABEBE v. GONZALES concerned only with the “ground of deportability charged,” id. (emphasis added), and its equivalence with some specified ground of exclusion. In Matter of Meza, decided after the ADAA introduced the aggravated felony provisions, the Board reiterated the basic rule that a § 212(c) “waiver is available in deportation proceedings only to those aliens who have been found deportable under a ground of deportability for which there is a comparable ground of excludability.” 20 I. & N. Dec. at 258. In that case, the BIA reversed the denial of § 212(c) relief sought by an alien charged with deportability under a provision that defined “illicit trafficking in any controlled substance” as an “aggravated felony.” Id. at 259. The IJ made the facile conclusion that because there was no “aggravated felony” ground of exclusion in § 212(a), § 212(c) relief was unavailable. Id. The board rejected the IJ’s reasoning but did not reject a grounds-based approach. Id. Rather, it noted that the aggravated felony ground of deportability essentially incorporated by reference § 101(a)(43) of the Act which in turn “refers to several types or categories of offenses.” Id. Because the specific category of aggravated felony at issue—drug trafficking offenses—was comparable to the drug trafficking ground of exclusion in § 212(a)(23), the Board found the alien eligible for § 212(c) relief. Id. Therefore, Meza does not support Abebe’s position. Abebe also points to Matter of Rodriguez-Cortes, 20 I. & N. Dec. 587 (BIA 1992). In that case, an alien was found deportable by an IJ both on aggravated felony and firearms grounds. Id. at 589. Because it was well settled that § 212(c) was unavailable for aliens facing deportation for firearms offenses, the IJ denied relief. Id. The BIA reversed the finding of deportability on the firearms charge and remanded. Id. at 591. The case does not address whether, on remand, the alien may have been ineligible for relief because the aggravated felony ground of deportation lacked an exclusion counterpart. In fact, there is no indication that the Board even considered the ABEBE v. GONZALES 8121 comparable grounds issue. This is too slender a reed to support the view that the BIA endorsed a conduct-based approach, especially in the face of the substantial body of case law both before and after Rodriguez-Cortes squarely addressing the issue. [6] In short, Abebe is unable to point to any published BIA case granting § 212(c) relief to an alien because his conduct constituted a CIMT even though he was charged with some other ground of deportability. Nor can he point to any federal court of appeals precedent establishing a conduct-based test for comparability. To the contrary, the Ninth Circuit cases that have addressed the issue have come out the other way. See Komarenko, 35 F.3d at 435. [7] The comparable grounds test restated in Blake and Brieva is consistent with past administrative and judicial interpretations of the statute and does not represent a substantial unexplained shift in agency practice.
[8] It is well established that all individuals in the United States—citizens and aliens alike—are protected by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. It is equally well established that the Due Process Clause incorporates the guarantees of equal protection. Komarenko, 35 F.3d at 434. This court applies the rational basis test to federal immigration statutes distinguishing among groups of aliens. Tapia-Acuna, 640 F.2d at 225. Abebe argues that Blake creates classes of aliens who are treated differently without any rational justification. Specifically, he argues that because the conduct underlying his deportability—the sexual abuse of a minor offense—could render him excludable under the CIMT inadmissibility provision, principles of equal protection require that he be given the same statutory waiver opportunity that would exist for an 8122 ABEBE v. GONZALES alien being deported for a CIMT conviction. However, this court has already rejected a virtually identical claim in Komarenko. That case involved an alien who had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and was deportable under § 241(a)(2)(C) (firearms deportation ground). 35 F.3d at 434. Mr. Komarenko argued that the conduct underlying his conviction “could have rendered him excludable as an alien convicted of a [CIMT]” and that therefore his equal protection rights were violated when relief was denied on the basis of the comparable grounds test. Id. at 435. This court refused to “employ[ ] a factual approach” but instead examined the classes of persons created by the excludability and deportation provisions. Id. Komarenko explicitly limited the constitutional holding in Tapia-Acuna to cases involving aliens facing deportation on a basis which “is identical to a statutory ground for exclusion for which discretionary relief would be available.” Komarenko, 35 F.3d at 434. Tapia-Acuna adopted the Second Circuit’s Francis decision. Francis compared two classes of aliens. In one, an alien who became deportable, left the United States, returned, and was then deported on a ground for which he could have been excluded upon his last re-entry, would be eligible for § 212(c) relief under the nunc pro tunc procedure of Matter of L—. In the other class, an alien who became deportable but stayed in the United States would have no opportunity for relief. The Francis court perceived no rational basis for this distinction. [9] Abebe faces deportation for committing an aggravated felony/sexual abuse of a minor offense. Had he left the United States and returned after his conviction, he could not have been excluded on a “sexual abuse of a minor” theory because no such ground of inadmissibility exists. It is simply beside the point that the government could have sought to exclude him on the CIMT ground. All that Francis and Tapia-Acuna require is that the government give the same benefit (the waiver of a particular ground of inadmissibility) to aliens ABEBE v. GONZALES 8123 whether or not they depart the United States. Komarenko establishes that “the linchpin of the equal protection analysis in this context is that the [deportation and exclusion] provisions be substantially identical.” 35 F.3d at 435. As noted above, the aggravated felony/sexual abuse of a minor ground under which Abebe was found deportable is not substantially identical to the CIMT ground of exclusion. Komarenko therefore settles the issue.12
Abebe argues that Blake and Brieva represent new rules that may not be applied retroactively to upset the settled expectations of LPRs who became deportable under the old regime. Whether we apply the framework of analysis in Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244 (1994) or Montgomery Ward & Co. v. FTC, 691 F.2d 1322 (9th Cir. 1982), Abebe’s argument fails for the simple reason that Blake and Brieva do not represent a change in the law. As discussed extensively supra in Section III.B.3, the BIA’s published 12 Amici curiae argue that Komarenko’s analysis is no longer good law because it rested on the Fleuti doctrine, which allowed some LPRs to bypass the excludability provisions if they were returning from innocent, casual and brief trips abroad. See note 6, supra. According to amici, the Komarenko court’s rejection of a conduct-based analysis was essentially prudential because the court did not wish to speculate as to whether Mr. Komarenko would have been deemed to be seeking entry if he took a hypothetical trip abroad following his assault conviction. Although creative, this argument is unconvincing. Neither Komarenko, nor the cases on which it relies—Tapia-Acuna and Cabasug—mention the Fleuti doctrine. Instead, Komarenko rejected the alien’s framing of the question as whether he “could have been excluded under the moral turpitude provision” because doing so would require “extend[ing] discretionary review to every ground for deportation that could constitute . . . moral turpitude.” 35 F.3d at 435. The absence of the Fleuti doctrine does not erase this concern. Further, amici simply assert that the Fleuti doctrine has been superseded by IIRIRA’s amendments to the definition of “admission” in INA § 101(a)(13). Although the BIA agrees with this contention, Matter of Collado-Munoz, 21 I. & N. Dec. 1061, 1063-67 (BIA 1998), this court has not yet addressed the issue. 8124 ABEBE v. GONZALES cases and this court’s decisions considering the issue have consistently held § 212(c) relief to be unavailable to aliens deportable on grounds that lack comparable grounds of exclusion whether or not their conduct could also be characterized as involving moral turpitude. Since at least the 1970s an alien in Abebe’s position would not have had any reasonable expectation of § 212(c) relief. There simply is no retroactivity problem because there is no new law. Valere, 473 F.3d at 761; Vo, 482 F.3d at ___, 2007 WL 816522 at -7.