Opinion ID: 2799581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Scope of Matter of Jean

Text: The most substantial question raised by Torres-Valdivias is whether Matter of Jean applies in the context of an 14 TORRES-VALDIVIAS V. LYNCH adjustment of status application under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i). Torres-Valdivias argues that it is not Matter of Jean that applies in this context, but rather Matter of Arai, 13 I. & N. Dec. 494 (BIA 1970). We disagree, and we uphold the BIA’s conclusion that Matter of Jean applies to applications for adjustment of status under § 245 in which the alien has been convicted of a violent or dangerous crime.
Matter of Jean involved a refugee’s applications for adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(a) and for asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. 23 I. & N. Dec. at 375–76. However, Jean was statutorily ineligible for adjustment of status due to a manslaughter conviction, which qualified as a crime involving moral turpitude rendering Jean inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). Id. As a predicate to her adjustment of status application, she was therefore also applying for a waiver of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(c)—the so-called § 209(c) waiver, named for the corresponding INA section. Id. at 376. The BIA, balancing the equities in the exercise of its discretion, granted her the waiver and adjustment of status. Id. at 378. The Attorney General then stepped in to reverse the BIA. Id. at 389. In doing so, the Attorney General articulated the applicable standard for guiding the BIA’s exercise of discretion as follows: It would not be a prudent exercise of the discretion afforded to me by [§ 1159(c)] to grant favorable adjustments of status to violent or dangerous individuals except in extraordinary circumstances, such as those involving national security or foreign policy TORRES-VALDIVIAS V. LYNCH 15 considerations, or cases in which an alien clearly demonstrates that the denial of status adjustment would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. Id. at 383. In addition, the Attorney General applied the same standard in denying, as a matter of discretion, Jean’s application for asylum under § 1158. Id. at 385 (“For the same reasons articulated in the earlier discussion of the respondent’s application for adjustment of status, I am highly disinclined to exercise my discretion—except, again, in extraordinary circumstances, such as those involving national security or foreign policy considerations, or cases in which an alien clearly demonstrates that the denial of relief would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship—on behalf of dangerous or violent felons seeking asylum.”). This standard may differ from the Matter of Arai standard that Torres-Valdivias argues the BIA should have applied. Matter of Arai, unlike Matter of Jean, involved the same kind of application involved in this case—namely, an application for adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255. In that context, the BIA articulated the following standard: Where adverse factors are present in a given application, it may be necessary for the applicant to offset these by a showing of unusual or even outstanding equities. Generally, favorable factors such as family ties, hardship, length of residence in the United States, etc., will be considered as countervailing factors meriting favorable exercise of administrative discretion. In the absence of adverse factors, adjustment will 16 TORRES-VALDIVIAS V. LYNCH ordinarily be granted, still as a matter of discretion. Matter of Arai, 13 I. & N. Dec. at 496. We proceed by assuming arguendo that the standards articulated in these two cases are sufficiently different so as to potentially make a difference in Torres-Valdivias’s case.
Applications Torres-Valdivias argues that Matter of Jean does not apply to him because, unlike Jean, Torres-Valdivias is not an inadmissible alien and therefore remains statutorily eligible for adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i). As this case comes to us, the parties agree that his conviction for sexual battery receives the benefit of the petty offense exception to inadmissibility, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II). As such, Torres-Valdivias remained statutorily eligible for adjustment of status without needing to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility. Torres-Valdivias thus argues that Matter of Jean, which established a standard in a case involving a § 209(c) waiver of inadmissibility, is inapplicable here. We disagree. Torres-Valdivias fails to acknowledge that Matter of Jean applied its standard not only in deciding the § 209(c) waiver question, but also in denying asylum under § 1158 as a matter of discretion. The scope of Matter of Jean is therefore not as narrow as Torres-Valdivias argues, as it plainly applies beyond the context of waivers of inadmissibility. Of note, the Attorney General has promulgated the Matter of Jean standard in the broader context of § 212(h) waivers of inadmissibility—which, unlike § 209(c) waivers, are not limited to refugees. See Waiver of TORRES-VALDIVIAS V. LYNCH 17 Criminal Grounds of Inadmissibility for Immigrants, 67 Fed. Reg. 78,675 (Dec. 26, 2002) (codified at 8 C.F.R. § 1212.7(d)).3 Given the broad language employed by the Attorney General in Matter of Jean and its focus on his discretion, we uphold the BIA’s broad reading of Matter of Jean. In Matter of Jean, the Attorney General effectively overruled the BIA’s practice of granting discretionary forms of relief to aliens having been convicted of violent or dangerous crimes. Whether an alien applying for relief from removal has shaken a baby to death as in Matter of Jean or has committed sexual battery of a ten-year-old as in this case, the Attorney General has determined that these are reprehensible aliens to whom relief should be denied in all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Matter of Jean by its own terms is not limited to the waiver of inadmissibility context, as it also applied its standard to denying Jean’s application for asylum as a matter of discretion. This broad reading of Matter of Jean is further supported by the BIA’s published decision in Matter of K–A–, 23 I. & N. Dec. 661 (BIA 2004), which noted that “[t]he Attorney General has communicated in unequivocal terms that he is not inclined to exercise his discretion favorably with respect to aliens who have been convicted of dangerous or violent crimes except in the most exceptional circumstances.” Id. at 666 (citing Matter of Jean, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 383). 3 Torres-Valdivias’s argument that the application of Matter of Jean reads 8 C.F.R. § 1212.7(d) into the petty offenses exception to inadmissibility, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II), is without merit. The BIA did not apply Matter of Jean to find Torres-Valdivias inadmissible notwithstanding the statutory petty offense exception; instead, it applied Matter of Jean to guide the exercise of its ultimate discretion as to whether to grant Torres-Valdivias adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i). 18 TORRES-VALDIVIAS V. LYNCH