Opinion ID: 3065944
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Parting of the Ways

Text: In Perez-Gonzalez, we held that the inadmissibility provision of INA § 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(II)4 did not preclude status adjustment under § 245(i). 379 F.3d at 792-95. We declined to defer to a guidance memorandum issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”), which concluded that status adjustment was unavailable to aliens inadmissible under § 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(II), because interpretations in the “informal format[ ]” of a guidance memorandum are not entitled “to the rigorous deference owed formal agency interpretations under Chevron.” Id. at 792-93. Applying a less deferential form of review, we found that the memorandum’s interpretation conflicted with “[t]he regulations at 8 C.F.R. § 212.2,” which “make the availability of adjustment of status to previously removed aliens explicit.” Id. at 793.5 Accordingly, we concluded that “[i]n the absence of a more complete agency 3 Because the BIA did not address the issue of whether Garfias applied for adjustment of status before § 245(i)’s expiration date, we will assume without deciding that Garfias is otherwise qualified to apply for adjustment of status under § 245(i). 4 Section 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(II) is the companion provision of the subsection at issue in this case, § 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(I). Subsection II makes inadmissible any alien who has been ordered removed and enters or attempts to reenter the United States illegally, and subsection I makes inadmissible any alien who has accrued over a year of unlawful presence in the United States. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i). Thus, subsection II presents the same conflict with § 245(i) as does subsection I. 5 8 C.F.R. § 212.2(e) specifies that applicants for adjustment of status “must request permission to reapply for entry in conjunction with [their] application[s] for adjustment of status.” We explained that “8 C.F.R. §§ 212.2(e) and (i)(2) expressly permit applicants for adjustment of status who have been previously removed or deported to apply for permission to reapply from within this country.” Perez-Gonzalez, 379 F.3d at 793. GARFIAS-RODRIGUEZ v. HOLDER 12593 elaboration of how its interpretation of § 212(a)(9) can be reconciled with its own regulations, we must defer to the regulations rather than to the informal guidance memorandum.” Id.