Opinion ID: 3003982
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retroactivity of the Repeal of Section 212(c)

Text: Under former section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c) (repealed 1996), deportable aliens who had accrued seven years of lawful permanent residence in the United States could request discretionary relief from deportation by arguing that the equities weighed in favor of allowing them to remain in the United States. Even an alien deportable because he had been convicted of an aggravated felony (such as Canto), see 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) (1994), was eligible for such discretionary relief if he served a term of imprisonment less than five years. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c). Section 212(c) was repealed in September 1996, when Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (“IIRIRA”). Section 304(b) of IIRIRA repealed § 212(c) relief entirely, replacing it with a procedure called “cancellation of removal,” see 8 U.S.C. § 1229b (1996), and providing that cancellation of removal is not available to an alien convicted of any aggravated felony. This provision was consistent with section 440(d) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), enacted shortly before IIRIRA, which rendered aliens convicted of aggravated felonies, regardless of the length of their sentence, ineligible for discretionary relief from deportation under former section 212(c). See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h). Had section 212(c) not been repealed, Canto would be eligible to apply to the Attorney General for equitable relief, and, statistically, he would have approximately a fifty percent chance of success. See Hem v. Maurer, 458 No. 08-4272 7 F.3d 1185, 1188 (10th Cir. 2006). Canto argues that the repeal of section 212(c) should not be allowed to apply retroactively to him. The Supreme Court has already addressed the retroactive application of this repeal in the context of a deportable alien who pled guilty to a crime of moral turpitude pursuant to a plea agreement that specified that he would receive less than five years’ imprisonment. In I.N.S. v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 326 (2001), the Supreme Court held that discretionary relief under former section 212(c) “remains available for aliens . . . whose convictions were obtained through plea agreements and who . . . would have been eligible for § 212(c) relief at the time of their plea under the law then in effect.” In reaching this conclusion, the Court applied the Landgraf formula, which requires a court to first see if Congress unambiguously intended the legislation to apply retroactively, and, if not, to examine whether it attaches new legal consequences to prior events because its application “would impair rights a party possessed when he acted, increase a party’s liability for past conduct, or impose new duties with respect to transactions already completed.” See Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 280 (1994). The St. Cyr Court concluded that Congress did not provide a sufficiently clear command with respect to the temporal reach of the repeal of former § 212(c) by IIRIRA section 304(b), such that the Court could not unambiguously conclude that Congress intended it to apply retroactively. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 319. The Court then concluded that the retroactive application of IIRIRA section 304(b) would have an impermissible retroactive 8 No. 08-4272 effect on aliens who had pled guilty prior to the repeal of section 212(c) because the repeal fundamentally changed the rights they had at the time of their convictions. Id. The Court highlighted the quid pro quo of the criminal plea agreement, and reasoned that because aliens like St. Cyr “almost certainly relied upon that likelihood of receiving discretionary relief under section 212(c) in deciding whether to forgo their right to a trial, the elimination of any possibility of section 212(c) relief by IIRIRA has an obvious and severe retroactive effect.” Id. at 325; see also id. at 322 (“Given the frequency with which § 212(c) relief was granted in the years leading up to AEDPA and IIRIRA, preserving the possibility of such relief would have been one of the principal benefits sought by defendants deciding whether to accept a plea offer or instead to proceed to trial.”). So, the Court held that the repeal of section 212(c) would not apply retroactively to petitioners who had accepted plea agreements. The Court, however, did not address whether relief under former section 212(c) would be available to petitioners, such as Canto, who did not accept a plea agreement but instead pleaded not guilty and were convicted after a trial. Although the Supreme Court did not embark on this analysis, it did much of the legwork for us. The Landgraf analysis here is the same as it is in St. Cyr—Congress did not state with certainty that it intended the repeal of section 212(c) to apply retroactively, and the repeal fundamentally changed the rights of certain petitioners. The only question remaining is whether those petitioners who opted to go to trial “relied” on the continued existence of equitable relief No. 08-4272 9 under section 212(c) in foregoing a legal right. The circuits are split on what type of reliance is necessary. The Fourth and Eleventh Circuits have employed an actual reliance standard, under which the petitioner must show that he actually subjectively relied on the prior law in the criminal proceedings resulting in his conviction. See Ferguson v. United States Atty. Gen., 563 F.3d 1254, 1268 (11th Cir. 2009); Chambers v. Reno, 307 F.3d 284, 290-91 (4th Cir. 2002). The Third, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits have employed an objective reliance standard, under which it is only necessary to establish that relevant circumstances gave rise to interests upon which it would have been objectively reasonable for a petitioner to rely on the prior law in deciding to give up a legal right. See Lovan v. Holder, 574 F.3d 990, 993-94 (8th Cir. 2009) (holding that repeal of section 212(c) had an impermissibly retroactive effect as applied to aliens convicted by either guilty plea or by jury); Hem v. Maurer, 458 F.3d 1185, 1192 (10th Cir. 2006) (same); Ponnapula v. Ashcroft, 373 F.3d 480, 493 (3d Cir. 2004) (same). The First and Ninth Circuits have not differentiated between the two types of reliance and have categorically held that petitioners who chose to go to trial could not possibly have relied on the continued existence of section 212(c) relief. Dias v. I.N.S., 311 F.3d 456, 458 (1st Cir. 2002); Armendariz-Montoya v. Sonchik, 291 F.3d 1116, 1121 (9th Cir. 2002). The Second Circuit appears conflicted on the issue. In two cases, it has agreed with the First and Ninth Circuits that a petitioner who goes to trial cannot later argue that he relied on the continued existence of section 212(c) in opting to reject a plea agree10 No. 08-4272 ment. See Swaby v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 156, 162 (2d Cir. 2004); Rankine v. Reno, 319 F.3d 93, 99 (2d Cir. 2003). Then, in Restrepo v. McElroy, 369 F.3d 627, 640 (2d Cir. 2004), it held that a defendant who went to trial but later argued that his “reliance” on the continued existence of section 212(c) did not involve his decision to go to trial, but rather his decision to not immediately file a section 212(c) request after being convicted, was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he actually relied on section 212(c)’s continued existence. Accord Carranza-De Salinas v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 200, 206-09 (5th Cir. 2007). We have agreed with the First and Ninth Circuits. See Montenegro v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1035, 1036-37 (7th Cir. 2004) (per curiam). In Montenegro, we held that relief under former section 212(c) only remains open to: (1) petitioners who pled guilty prior to section 212(c)’s repeal; or (2) “aliens who conceded deportability before AEDPA’s enactment, with the expectation that they could seek waivers under § 212(c).” Id. at 1037. Canto fits in neither category. Moreover, we expressly found a petitioner could not possibly have relied on the continued existence of section 212(c) relief in deciding to go to trial. Id. (“But this exception does not apply to aliens like Montenegro who chose to go to trial; such aliens did not abandon any rights or admit guilt in reliance on continued eligibility for § 212(c) relief.”). Here, Canto makes a slightly more nuanced argument, relying on Hem, 458 F.3d at 1192, that he forwent his legal right to appeal his conviction in reliance on his continued ability to seek section 212(c) relief. The distincNo. 08-4272 11 tion between our analysis in Montenegro and that of the Third, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits, which have found that the repeal of section 212(c) to be impermissibly retroactive as applied to petitioners who went to trial, is one of fine line drawing. With the exception of the Fourth Circuit, the circuits are generally in agreement that the Supreme Court prefers a categorical approach over an individualized analysis when deciding whether an alien relied on the continued existence of section 212(c) in forgoing a legal right. It cannot be disputed that the Supreme Court took a categorical approach in St. Cyr—it found that the category of aliens who accepted plea agreements prior to the repeal of section 212(c) relied on its continued existence in deciding to accept the plea. See Hem, 458 F.3d at 1199 (“[T]he Court established an objective, categorical scheme for determining if a statute has impermissible retroactive effects. The Court generalized to a category of affected aliens from the facts of the case before it, asking whether the repeal of § 212(c) would have an “impermissible retroactive effect for aliens who, like [St. Cyr], were convicted pursuant to a plea agreement at a time when their plea would not have rendered them ineligible for § 212(c) relief.” (citation and quotation omitted)); Restrepo, 369 F.3d at 640 (“In St. Cyr II, instead, the Supreme Court took a categorical approach. . . . We have not had briefs or oral arguments on whether the approach taken by the Supreme Court in St. Cyr II or a more individualized one is appropriate in the circumstances before us.”). In the aftermath of St. Cyr, faced with many different reliance arguments, courts either were forced to create 12 No. 08-4272 new categories and decide whether the group of individuals in them would have relied on the continued existence of section 212(c) relief, or abandon the categorical approach and evaluate reliance on a case-bycase basis. See Restrepo, 369 F.3d at 642 (Calabresi, J., concurring). For example, the Third Circuit concluded that the category of aliens who turned down plea agreements but went to trial relied on the continued ability to seek section 212(c) relief such that its repeal was impermissibly retroactive with respect to them. See Ponnapula, 373 F.3d at 494. And the Tenth Circuit concluded the same about the category of aliens who went to trial (even in the absence of a plea agreement) but gave up their right to appeal their conviction when a successful appeal could have deprived them of their ability to seek section 212(c) relief. See Hem, 458 F.3d at 1199-1200. We, too, have followed the categorical approach, finding that the category of aliens who went to trial did not forgo any possible benefit in reliance on section 212(c). See Montenegro, 355 F.3d at 1037. This category necessarily includes those aliens that went to trial, but chose not to appeal. The Executive Office for Immigration Review has promulgated regulations consistent with our interpretation. See Exec. Office for Immigration Review, Section 212(c) Relief for Aliens With Certain Criminal Convictions Before April 1, 1997, 69 Fed. Reg. 57826 (Sept. 28, 2004) (codified at 8 C.F.R. pts. 1003, 1212, 1240 (2006)). Even if we were to regard the group of aliens who did not appeal as a separate category, we would be hesitant to find that they relied No. 08-4272 13 on section 212(c). Although, as the Supreme Court recognized in St. Cyr, it is more than likely that those aliens faced with plea agreements contemplated their ability to seek section 212(c) relief, the same logic cannot necessarily be extended to those aliens convicted at trial. It is a stretch to think that the majority of aliens who went to trial and received a sentence of less than five years would forgo their right to appeal on the off chance that they would be successful, get retried, be convicted again, and then receive a sentence greater than five years. So, it would be more likely than not that the existence of section 212(c) did not affect their decision about whether to appeal their convictions. Therefore, we must affirm the BIA’s decision.