Opinion ID: 3049320
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Due Process and Retroactivity

Text: 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 Further, amici simply assert that the Fleuti doctrine has been superseded by IIRIRA’s amendments to the definition of “admission” in INA § 101(a)(13).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.