Opinion ID: 791870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Analyzing the Retroactivity Issue Under Second Circuit Precedent

Text: 22 In this Circuit, we have yet to address the retroactivity of IIRIRA's restrictions on relief under section 212(h), but we have developed a significant line of case law with respect to AEDPA's and IIRIRA's retroactive application to INA section 212(c) — a since-repealed provision that, similar to section 212(h), allowed for discretionary relief from exclusion or deportation. 9 Beginning with St. Cyr v. INS (St. Cyr I), 229 F.3d 406 (2d Cir.2000), aff'd, INS v. St. Cyr (St. Cyr II), 533 U.S. 289, 121 S.Ct. 2271, 150 L.Ed.2d 347 (2001), we have primarily addressed these retroactivity issues using the two-part framework provided by Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994). Landgraf provides a mechanism for implementing the deeply rooted presumption that legislation should not have a retroactive effect unless Congress speaks plainly to the contrary. See St. Cyr I, 229 F.3d at 412 (quoting Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 265, 114 S.Ct. 1483). Under this framework, a court must first determine whether Congress has expressly prescribed the statute's proper reach — i.e., whether Congress clearly intended a retroactive application. See id. at 413 (quoting Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 280, 114 S.Ct. 1522). If Congress has spoken clearly, the inquiry is over and the court must implement Congress's intent unless doing so would be unconstitutional. Restrepo v. McElroy, 369 F.3d 627, 631 (2d Cir.2004). But if Congress's intent is ambiguous, a court proceeds to the second step: determining whether applying a statute to prior conduct would have a retroactive effect — i.e., whether it would change the legal consequences of past events. See St. Cyr I, 229 F.3d at 413 (citing Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 280, 114 S.Ct. 1483). Such an effect triggers the presumption against retroactivity, requiring a court to construe the statute to avoid upsetting settled expectations and producing unfair results. See id. at 412-13. 23 In St. Cyr I, we applied this framework to find that section 440 of AEDPA — which restricted the availability of section 212(c) relief for aggravated felons — and section 304 of IIRIRA — which eliminated section 212(c) relief altogether — could not apply to aliens who pleaded guilty prior to the enactment of the 1996 Acts. We found, first, that Congress did not unambiguously provide for the relevant provisions' retroactive application. See St. Cyr I, 229 F.3d at 413-16. In particular, with respect to IIRIRA's repeal of section 212(c), we noted that the provision governing the temporal reach of the repeal simply provided for an effective date, and we found that provision insufficiently clear for the purposes of the first Landgraf step. See id. at 414 (discussing impact of effective date provided in section 309(a) of IIRIRA); see also St. Cyr II, 533 U.S. at 317, 121 S.Ct. 2271 (declaring that the mere promulgation of an effective date for a statute does not provide sufficient assurance that Congress specifically considered the potential unfairness that retroactive application would produce). Proceeding to the second step of the Landgraf analysis, we found that, prior to the 1996 Acts, aliens often pleaded guilty to crimes in reliance on the possibility of obtaining a waiver of deportation under section 212(c). See St. Cyr I, 229 F.3d at 417-21. Thus we found that eliminating section 212(c) relief for such aliens changed the legal consequences of relevant prior conduct — the guilty plea — and that disturbing those aliens' settled expectations triggered the Landgraf presumption against retroactivity. See id. at 419-20. In affirming our decision, the Supreme Court similarly focused on the act of pleading guilty in reliance on section 212(c) as the key conduct triggering the fairness concerns underlying Landgraf. See St. Cyr II, 533 U.S. at 320-26, 121 S.Ct. 2271. 24 Following St. Cyr I, we held in Domond v. INS, 244 F.3d 81 (2d Cir.2001), that AEDPA's restriction on section 212(c) relief can apply to criminal conduct pre-dating the statutes where the conviction occurred after the relevant statutory enactment. We explained that such an application of AEDPA or IIRIRA had no retroactive effect because it did not change the legal consequences of criminal conduct ; it is the conviction, not the underlying criminal act, that bars relief under section 212(c). See id. at 85-86. Citing dicta in St. Cyr I, we further found that, in contrast to aliens who may have pleaded guilty in reliance on section 212(c), it cannot reasonably be argued that aliens committed crimes in reliance on a hearing that might possibly waive their deportation. Id. at 86 (citing St. Cyr I, 229 F.3d at 418-19). Domond was decided before the Supreme Court's decision in St. Cyr II, but we have reaffirmed that Domond is controlling and that the mere fact that criminal conduct pre-dates AEDPA or IIRIRA does not trigger any retroactivity concerns under the second Landgraf step. See Khan v. Ashcroft, 352 F.3d 521, 523-24 (2d Cir.2003); see also Restrepo, 369 F.3d at 632. In other cases, we have further held that aliens choosing to go to trial prior to the 1996 Acts, as opposed to those pleading guilty, were not detrimentally relying on the availability of 212(c) relief and thus cannot succeed under a Landgraf analysis. See Rankine v. Reno, 319 F.3d 93, 99-102 (2d Cir.2003), cert. denied sub nom. Lawrence v. Ashcroft, 540 U.S. 910, 124 S.Ct. 287, 157 L.Ed.2d 199 (2003); see also Thom v. Ashcroft, 369 F.3d 158, 161-63 (2d Cir.2004), petition for cert. filed, No. 04-9116 (U.S. Feb. 24, 2005). 25 Applying the Landgraf framework to Guaylupo-Moya's appeal, we first address whether Congress unambiguously prescribed the reach of section 348 and section 321 of IIRIRA, which combine to deprive Guaylupo-Moya of section 212(h) relief under the law as it is currently enforced. In addressing this question, we agree with the District Court that Congress unambiguously directed that these provisions shall apply retroactively. 26 Section 348(a) of IIRIRA eliminates section 212(h) relief for lawful permanent residents convicted of aggravated felonies, and section 348(b) expressly provides that the restriction in section 348(a) shall be effective on the date of the enactment of this Act [September 30, 1996] and shall apply in the case of any alien who is in exclusion or deportation proceedings as of such date unless a final administrative order in such proceedings has been entered as of such date. IIRIRA § 348(b), 110 Stat. at 3009-639. Unlike the provisions at issue in St. Cyr I & II, section 348(b) of IIRIRA not only promulgates an effective date; it also directs that section 212(h) relief should be restricted in the case of aliens already in exclusion or deportation proceedings in which no final administrative order has been entered. The obvious effect of the latter clause is to cover aliens whose relevant criminal conduct and convictions occurred prior to IIRIRA's enactment. Thus, we find that Congress clearly intended that an alien placed in deportation proceedings after IIRIRA's enactment is subject to the restrictions on section 212(h) regardless of when the underlying criminal activity occurred. Indeed, the Supreme Court in St. Cyr II cited section 348(b) of IIRIRA as an example of an unambiguous expression of retroactivity. See St. Cyr II, 533 U.S. at 319 & n. 43, 121 S.Ct. 2271. 27 Moreover, as the District Court observed, Congress was clear in providing that the expanded definition of an aggravated felony in section 321(a) of IIRIRA should apply retroactively. Section 321(b) of IIRIRA states that the amended definition of aggravated felony shall apply regardless of whether the conviction was entered before, on, or after the date of enactment, September 30, 1996. See IIRIRA § 321(b), 110 Stat. at 3009-628 (amending INA section 101(a)(43), codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)). In Kuhali v. Reno, 266 F.3d 93 (2d Cir.2001), we found that section 321(b) of IIRIRA clearly provides for a retroactive application, and thus we held, under the first Landgraf step, that the expanded definition of an aggravated felony applied to an alien placed in deportation proceedings based on a 1980 conviction. Id. at 110-11; see also St. Cyr II, 533 U.S. at 319 & n. 43, 121 S.Ct. 2271. Under the plain language of IIRIRA and Kuhali, we must conclude that Congress intended the amended definition of an aggravated felony to apply to aliens, like Guaylupo-Moya, who committed crimes prior to IIRIRA. 28 We thus find that Congress clearly intended section 321(a) and section 348(a) of IIRIRA to preclude aliens like Guaylupo-Moya from obtaining section 212(h) relief. Because of this finding, we do not proceed to the second Landgraf step, and Guaylupo-Moya may not rely on the presumption against retroactivity in seeking a favorable construction of the statute. 29 In addition, to the extent that Guaylupo-Moya contends that it would violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution to apply the expanded definition of an aggravated felony to him, this argument is unavailing. In both Domond and Kuhali, we declared that there can be no constitutional violation in applying AEDPA or IIRIRA to criminal conduct pre-dating the statutes because the Ex Post Facto Clause only applies to penal legislation and deportation proceedings have consistently been characterized as civil in nature. See Kuhali, 266 F.3d at 111-12 (A long and constant line of precedent establishes that statutes retroactively setting criteria for deportation do not violate the ex post facto clause.); Domond, 244 F.3d at 87. 10 30