Opinion ID: 797821
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: When does Petitioners' time to depart voluntarily begin to run?

Text: 33 Citing the Ninth Circuit's decision in Contreras-Aragon v. INS, 852 F.2d 1088, 1092 (9th Cir.1988), Petitioners first argue that their period for voluntary departure does not begin to run until we issue a mandate denying their petition for review in their underlying asylum case. Contreras-Aragon, however, is an old law case. At the time of Contreras-Aragon, the INA provided for automatic stays of deportation upon the filing of a petition for review. 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(3) (repealed 1996). The Contreras-Aragon court reasoned that it was inconceivable that Congress made such provision but intended to require aliens granted voluntary departure to seek repeated extensions of the voluntary departure period from the district director, in order to preserve the award of voluntary departure until our final determination . . . . 852 F.2d at 1092. Thus, the court concluded that the right of voluntary departure should remain in effect throughout the period of appellate review and for whatever additional time the BIA afforded the petitioner in its decision. Id. In adopting this rule, the court rejected an alternative rule which would have preserved voluntary departure only where the alien petitions for review within the period specified for voluntary departure. Such a rule was unacceptable because, in the court's view, it would shorten the statutory six month period provided for under old law for filing a petition for review. Id. at 1096 (citing 8 U.S.C. 1252(c) (repealed 1996)). 34 Petitioners here, however, are subject to the rule of IIRIRA, as amended by the REAL ID Act of 2005, because a final deportation order was entered after October 30, 1996. Pub.L. No. 104-208, § 309(c)(4), 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-546, 3009-625; REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-13, § 106(d), 119 Stat. 231, 311. Two changes made applicable by IIRIRA are relevant here. First, automatic stays are no longer granted; an alien must petition the court for a stay of deportation. Id. § 309(c)(4)(F). Second, petitions for review must be filed within 30 days of the final order of deportation. Id. § 309(c)(4)(C). 35 These changes have so undercut the rationale of Contreras-Aragon that Petitioners reliance on that decision is misplaced. Indeed, these very same changes prompted the Ninth Circuit several years later in Zazueta-Carrillo v. Ashcroft, 322 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir.2003), to reconsider Contreras-Aragon and hold that the period for voluntary departure begins to run from the time the BIA enters its order. 7 Id. at 1170-72; see also Rife v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 606, 614-15 (8th Cir.2004). Petitioners' period for voluntary departure, therefore, began to run upon issuance of the BIA's order denying their application for asylum and withholding of return. They are therefore barred from adjusting their status unless the period for voluntary departure was stayed, tolled, or otherwise extended by their having filed for a stay of deportation. We now turn to that issue.