Opinion ID: 816266
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exception to Inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C.

Text: § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) Because Carrillo de Palacios is inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(II), and Torres-Garcia applies retroactively to her, she may only seek adjustment of status under § 1255(i) if she qualifies under the exception to inadmissibility set forth in § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii). Garfias-Rodriguez, 2012 WL 5077137, at ; see also Morales-Izquierdo, 600 F.3d at 1079 (discussing § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) with respect to § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(II)); Gonzales, 508 F.3d at 1231 (same). We have previously explained the mechanics of § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii): “while residing outside the United States,” the alien must “appl[y] for and receive[] advance permission from the Secretary of Homeland Security . . . to reapply for admission.” Morales-Izquierdo, 600 F.3d at 1079. However, the alien “is not eligible for such advance permission until ten years have elapsed since his [or her] last departure from the United States. This is commonly known as the ‘ten-year bar’ to readmission.” Id. (citation omitted); see also Gonzales, 508 F.3d at 1231 (“An alien inadmissible under [§ 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)], however, may seek admission into the United States if: (1) he has been absent from the United States more than ten years, and (2) he has received the consent of the Secretary of Homeland Security to the application for readmission.”). Carrillo de Palacios argues that these precedents are inapposite to her case. She notes that the prior cases involved petitioners who requested § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) relief within ten years of leaving the United States. E.g., Morales-Izquierdo, 600 F.3d at 1079; Torres-Garcia, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 873. In 14 CARRILLO DE PALACIOS V . HOLDER her case, by contrast, she “last departed the United States in 1992,” and she filed her application for readmission in 2007, “more than 10 years after her last departure from the United States.” (Emphasis in original.) Even if we agreed with Carrillo de Palacios that the existing cases constitute dicta with respect to her particular circumstances, we may not lightly brush aside the reasoning and analysis contained in an unbroken chain of case law. We, the BIA, and our sister circuits have all stated that § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) requires that the alien be “absent from the United States more than ten years” before applying to the Secretary. Gonzales, 508 F.3d at 1231.5 Phrased differently, the alien must “exit the United States and wait ten years before applying.” Perez-Gonzalez v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d 1116, 1117 (9th Cir. 2005) (Gould, J., dissenting from order denying motion to reconsider) (internal quotation marks omitted), cited with approval by Torres-Garcia, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 875. Carrillo de Palacios’s argument places undue weight on one portion of the relevant clause, while ignoring the 5 See also Delgado v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 65, 73 (2d Cir. 2008) (stating that the alien may only “seek permission to reapply for admission from outside of the United States after ten years have passed since his most recent departure from the United States”); Mortera-Cruz v. Gonzales, 409 F.3d 246, 250 n.4 (5th Cir. 2005) (noting that the alien must have “been outside the United States more than 10 years since his or her last departure”); Fernandez-Vargas v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 881, 885 (10th Cir. 2005) (describing requirement as “an unwaivable ten-year period outside of the United States”), aff’d, 548 U.S. 30 (2006); Torres-Garcia, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 875 (noting that the exception applies “‘only after the alien has been outside the United States for ten years’” (quoting Berrum-Garcia v. Comfort, 390 F.3d 1158, 1167 (10th Cir. 2004)). CARRILLO DE PALACIOS V . HOLDER 15 surrounding statutory language. She emphasizes the phrase “an alien seeking admission more than 10 years after the date of the alien’s last departure from the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii). She last departed in 1992 and filed her application in 2007, so, according to her reasoning, she satisfies the requirements of § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii). But that clause also requires that the alien must obtain the Secretary’s consent “prior to the alien’s reembarkation at a place outside the United States or attempt to be readmitted from a foreign contiguous territory.” Id. Although the statute is subject to different interpretations, we conclude that the two sentences work in tandem: ten years must elapse between the time the alien “depart[s]” the United States and the time the alien “reembark[s]” or otherwise returns to the United States. If ten years must elapse between departure and return, then it necessarily follows that those ten years must be spent outside the United States. Any lingering doubts about § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) can be resolved by examining the legislative scheme as a whole. See Koons Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. v. Nigh, 543 U.S. 50, 60 (2004) (“A provision that may seem ambiguous in isolation is often clarified by the remainder of the statutory scheme . . . .” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The BIA has observed that the underlying purpose of § 1182(a)(9)(C) “was to single out recidivist immigration violators and make it more difficult for them to be admitted to the United States after having departed.” Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 358. We have deferred to that view as a permissible interpretation of the statute. Garfias-Rodriguez, 2012 WL 5077137, at –. The BIA has added that § 1182(a)(9) generally “seek[s] to compound the adverse consequences of immigration violations.” In re Rodarte-Roman, 23 I. & N. Dec. 905, 909 (B.I.A. 2006). By requiring repeat immigration offenders to 16 CARRILLO DE PALACIOS V . HOLDER pay the penalty of waiting ten years outside the United States before receiving the privilege of lawful reentry, § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) promotes Congress’s underlying policy goals of making admission more difficult for immigration recidivists. In light of this legislative policy, we continue to defer to the BIA’s reasonable decision in Torres-Garcia, upon which the BIA expressly relied in rejecting Carrillo de Palacios’s arguments below. See Gonzales, 508 F.3d at 1241–42 (deferring to Torres-Garcia). In Torres-Garcia, the BIA wrote: [W]e could not . . . allow an alien to circumvent the statutory 10-year limitation on [§ 1182](a)(9)(C)(ii) waivers by simply reentering unlawfully before requesting the waiver. After all, it is the alien’s unlawful reentry without admission that makes [§ 1182](a)(9)(C)(i) applicable in the first place. . . . [A]n alien may not obtain a waiver of the [§ 1182](a)(9)(C)(i) ground of inadmissibility, retroactively or prospectively, without regard to the 10-year limitation set forth at [§ 1182](a)(9)(C)(ii). 23 I. & N. Dec. at 876. This reasoning applies directly to Carrillo de Palacios’s circumstances. Although ten years elapsed since she last departed the United States, she attempted to “circumvent the statutory 10-year limitation . . . by simply reentering unlawfully” after spending only five years abroad. Id. She did not satisfy the statutory requirement that she spend ten years abroad before returning. CARRILLO DE PALACIOS V . HOLDER 17 Our prior discussions of § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) are therefore correct: the alien must be “absent from the United States more than ten years” before applying to the Secretary under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii). Gonzales, 508 F.3d at 1231. This, Carrillo de Palacios did not do. She departed in 1992 and returned in 1997, long before the ten-year period had lapsed. Like the BIA, we conclude that she was required to spend ten years outside the United States before returning. Having failed to do so, she does not satisfy the § 1182(a)(9)(C)(ii) exception to inadmissibility.6