Opinion ID: 791779
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 1 Zheng Zheng petitions this Court to review a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying his motion to reopen removal proceedings. Zheng raises two claims. First, he argues that the BIA should have granted his motion to reopen because of ineffective assistance of counsel. Zheng argues that his previous attorney was ineffective because he failed to file an appellate brief with the BIA after an Immigration Judge (IJ) denied his application for asylum. Because we find that the prejudice requirement of the ineffective assistance claim has not been met, we reject Zheng's argument on this point. 2 Second, Zheng argues that the BIA should have granted his request to remand his case so that an IJ might consider his petitions for adjustment of status. Zheng presses two applications to adjust status. First, he has an employment-based application. Second, he alleges that he is covered by the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-404, 106 Stat. 1969 (CSPA), which allows certain Chinese nationals to adjust their status to that of lawful permanent residents. The government responds that Zheng is an arriving alien and, as such, forbidden by regulation from adjusting his status under 8 C.F.R. § 1245.1(c)(8). Zheng and the amicus curiae argue that this regulation is inconsistent with the governing statute, and therefore invalid, relying on the First Circuit's recent decision in Succar v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 8 (1st Cir.2005). 3 While our reasoning differs somewhat from that of the First Circuit, we agree with that court's conclusion that 8 C.F.R. § 1245.1(c)(8) is not a valid exercise of the Attorney General's authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). We concur with the government that the statute grants the Attorney General broad discretion to issue regulations, and that this discretion may include some power to regulate eligibility to adjust status. But the Attorney General's power is not unlimited, and must be exercised consistently with the intent of the statute. Because the statute allows paroled aliens to apply for adjustment of status, whereas the regulation forecloses this statutory eligibility, the regulation is not based on a permissible statutory reading. We will therefore grant the petition for review and remand to allow the immigration authorities to consider Zheng's applications for adjustment of status.