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

Heading: Consistency With Prior Agency Practice

Text: Abebe also argues that the Blake/Brieva rule conflicts with past Board interpretations of the statutory counterpart requirement and is therefore “entitled to considerably less deference.” INS v. Cardoza-Fonesca, 480 U.S. 421, 446 n.30 (1987). This contention deserves careful consideration. If it is true that the BIA consistently interpreted the comparable grounds test one way and then reversed course without adequate explanation, Blake might represent “an arbitrary and capricious change from agency practice,” Nat. Cable & Telecomms. Ass’n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 545 U.S. 967, 981 (2005), unworthy of Chevron deference. [5] However, Abebe’s premise is false—the BIA has not recently changed course but rather has maintained a consistent position for many years. As noted above, § 212(c) has generally not been interpreted as a form of relief applicable to all grounds of deportability.11 Rather, it has been said that “if a ground of deportation is also a ground of inadmissibility . . . 11 As a lone exception, the BIA did interpret § 212(c) in this manner for a brief period in 1990 but the Attorney General reversed the Board’s opinion in March 1991. See Matter of Hernandez-Casillas, 20 I. & N. Dec 262 (BIA 1990, Att’y Gen. 1991). ABEBE v. GONZALES 8119 section 212(c) can be invoked in a deportation hearing.” Matter of Salmon, 16 I. & N. Dec. 734 (BIA 1978). Abebe would have us believe that despite language comparing the ground of deportability charged with the grounds of excludability listed in § 212(a), the Board has, in practice, engaged in a subtly different sort of analysis. Namely, Abebe suggests that before Blake, the BIA compared the specific conduct rendering an alien deportable with the grounds of exclusion in § 212(a). It would follow, under this approach, that if an alien whose conduct—say engaging in the sexual abuse of a minor —would render him excludable for committing a CIMT, then § 212(c) would be available in deportation proceedings regardless of the ground of deportation alleged by the government. Abebe asserts that Matter of Granados supports his position. In that case, the BIA denied § 212(c) relief because “[c]onviction for possession of a . . . sawed-off shotgun [(the ground of excludability under § 241(a)(14))] is not a specified section 212(a) ground of excludability, nor a crime involving moral turpitude that would render the respondent excludable under section 212(a)(9) of the Act.” 16 I. & N. Dec. at 728. Petitioner seizes on the second half of this sentence and claims that whenever an alien’s conduct could expose him to the CIMT ground of excludability, he is eligible for § 212(c) relief. We need not decide if this is an accurate statement of the BIA’s position when Granados was decided, because it was clearly repudiated in 1984. In Matter of Wadud, an alien was found deportable under § 241(a)(5) for an immigration document fraud conviction. 19 I. & N. Dec. at 184 n.2. Mr. Wadud sought § 212(c) relief on the theory that the conduct supporting his conviction, and hence his deportability under § 241(a)(5), involved moral turpitude and that he was therefore excludable under § 212(a)(9) (CIMT). The BIA soundly rejected this argument characterizing its statement in Granados as dicta. Id. at 185. More importantly, the BIA clarified that the appropriate test was 8120 ABEBE v. GONZALES concerned only with the “ground of deportability charged,” id. (emphasis added), and its equivalence with some specified ground of exclusion. In Matter of Meza, decided after the ADAA introduced the aggravated felony provisions, the Board reiterated the basic rule that a § 212(c) “waiver is available in deportation proceedings only to those aliens who have been found deportable under a ground of deportability for which there is a comparable ground of excludability.” 20 I. & N. Dec. at 258. In that case, the BIA reversed the denial of § 212(c) relief sought by an alien charged with deportability under a provision that defined “illicit trafficking in any controlled substance” as an “aggravated felony.” Id. at 259. The IJ made the facile conclusion that because there was no “aggravated felony” ground of exclusion in § 212(a), § 212(c) relief was unavailable. Id. The board rejected the IJ’s reasoning but did not reject a grounds-based approach. Id. Rather, it noted that the aggravated felony ground of deportability essentially incorporated by reference § 101(a)(43) of the Act which in turn “refers to several types or categories of offenses.” Id. Because the specific category of aggravated felony at issue—drug trafficking offenses—was comparable to the drug trafficking ground of exclusion in § 212(a)(23), the Board found the alien eligible for § 212(c) relief. Id. Therefore, Meza does not support Abebe’s position. Abebe also points to Matter of Rodriguez-Cortes, 20 I. & N. Dec. 587 (BIA 1992). In that case, an alien was found deportable by an IJ both on aggravated felony and firearms grounds. Id. at 589. Because it was well settled that § 212(c) was unavailable for aliens facing deportation for firearms offenses, the IJ denied relief. Id. The BIA reversed the finding of deportability on the firearms charge and remanded. Id. at 591. The case does not address whether, on remand, the alien may have been ineligible for relief because the aggravated felony ground of deportation lacked an exclusion counterpart. In fact, there is no indication that the Board even considered the ABEBE v. GONZALES 8121 comparable grounds issue. This is too slender a reed to support the view that the BIA endorsed a conduct-based approach, especially in the face of the substantial body of case law both before and after Rodriguez-Cortes squarely addressing the issue. [6] In short, Abebe is unable to point to any published BIA case granting § 212(c) relief to an alien because his conduct constituted a CIMT even though he was charged with some other ground of deportability. Nor can he point to any federal court of appeals precedent establishing a conduct-based test for comparability. To the contrary, the Ninth Circuit cases that have addressed the issue have come out the other way. See Komarenko, 35 F.3d at 435. [7] The comparable grounds test restated in Blake and Brieva is consistent with past administrative and judicial interpretations of the statute and does not represent a substantial unexplained shift in agency practice.