Opinion ID: 1464069
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Relief under Section 209(b) and (c)

Text: Robleto asserts that he can avoid removal by re-adjusting his status to that of a lawful permanent resident under section 209(b) in connection with a waiver of inadmissibility under 209(c). Section 209(b) allows an asylee to adjust status to that of LPR, but requires that the asylee be otherwise admissible. 8 U.S.C. § 1159(b)(5). Petitioner concedes inadmissibility based on his aggravated felony conviction, and seeks to overcome this barrier to adjustment through a waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to section 209(c). Section 209(c) provides the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General with discretion to waive inadmissibility for humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest. 8 U.S.C. § 1159(c). Despite having already obtained LPR status in 1988, petitioner contends that he is eligible for relief under section 209 because his asylee status was never terminated, and that he therefore holds asylee status and LPR status simultaneously. [5] Without deciding and regardless of whether Robleto simultaneously holds asylee and LPR status, we conclude that he is ineligible for relief from removal under section 209 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1159, and that his petition must therefore be denied. Section 209(b) provides as follows: The Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General ... may adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence the status of any alien granted asylum who (1) applies for such adjustment, (2) has been physically present in the United States for at least one year after being granted asylum, (3) continues to be a refugee within the meaning of section 1101(a)(42)(A) of this title or a spouse or child of such a refugee, (4) is not firmly resettled in any foreign country, and (5) is admissible. ... 8 U.S.C. § 1159(b) (emphasis added). By its own terms, section 209(b) applies to asylees seeking to adjust status to that of LPR, a process petitioner completed in 1988. It says nothing about a lawful permanent resident re-adjusting his status to that of lawful permanent resident. Nor does section 209 provide that such adjustment of status is a means to avoid removal. Cf. Abebe v. Mukasey, 554 F.3d 1203, 1205(9th Cir.2009) (en banc) (construing former section 212(c) of the INA in accordance with its plain language as only providing discretionary relief from inadmissibility  not deportation). Petitioner cites no authority, nor could we find any, providing that an asylee who acquires LPR status is eligible for relief from removal under section 209. [6] Moreover, relevant authority indicates that aliens retain their LPR status until a final order of removal. See 8 C.F.R. § 1001.1(p). [7] Thus, regardless of whether petitioner retained his asylee status simultaneously with his LPR status, there is no dispute that he remained an LPR until a final order of removal. Accordingly, as an asylee who already acquired LPR status, section 209(b) does not apply to him, and by extension, the waiver of inadmissibility under section 209(c) is also foreclosed. We therefore affirm the BIA's decision and hold that an alien who has previously adjusted status to that of LPR retains that status until a final order of removal and cannot re-adjust status to that of an LPR under section 209(b) in order to avoid removal. We find support for our perspective in cases from our sister circuits, which have held that refugees who adjust status to lawful permanent resident are ineligible for relief from removal under section 209(a) in connection with a waiver of inadmissibility under section 209(c). Gutnik v. Gonzales, 469 F.3d 683, 692 (7th Cir.2006) (holding that an alien who adjusted status from refugee to LPR was no longer eligible to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility in connection with an adjustment of status under section 209); Saintha v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 243, 252-53 (4th Cir.2008) (applying Chevron deference to the BIA's determination that a refugee who had already acquired LPR status was precluded from subsequently re-adjusting to LPR status). While these cases involve section 209(a), which concerns adjustment of status from refugee to LPR, they are nonetheless instructive. In Gutnik, the Seventh Circuit deferred to the BIA's determination that relief under section 209 was unavailable to a removable refugee who had previously adjusted his status to that of LPR. Gutnik, 469 F.3d at 692. The BIA noted that allowing Gutnik to apply for a waiver under section 209(c) would place him at an unfair advantage over other aliens and would improperly insulate him from his criminal misconduct which occurred many years after his arrival as a refugee. Id. at 689. This reasoning echoes the concern we voiced in Kaganovich in deciding that refugee status should not be used to insulate aliens from the otherwise applicable removal statute. 470 F.3d at 898(finding persuasive the BIA's holding in In re Smriko, 23 I. & N. Dec. 836 (BIA 2005) that 8 U.S.C. § 1157(c)(4) should not be read to shield refugees from the INA's general removal provision). Similarly, in Saintha, the Fourth Circuit deferred to the BIA's interpretation of section 209(a)(1) as precluding relief from removal for a refugee who had previously acquired LPR status. [8] Saintha, 516 F.3d at 247, 253. The BIA rejected Saintha's application to adjust status a second time under section 209(a) in connection with a waiver of inadmissibility under section 209(c), concluding that the plain language of section 209(a)(1) precluded a refugee who has already acquired LPR status ... from subsequently re-adjusting to LPR status. Id. at 247. More specifically, the BIA read section 209(a)(1) as providing three criteria for adjusting status, one of which requires the alien not to have already acquired permanent resident status. Id. at 253. Because Saintha had already acquired LPR status, he could not satisfy this criterion, and therefore was ineligible to adjust status a second time. Id. The Fourth Circuit agreed with the BIA's interpretation, noting that it was logical to conclude that an alien ... who has previously acquired permanent resident status but was later rendered removable by the commission of multiple crimes, is ineligible to acquire LPR status again under § 1159. Id. We find the Fourth and Seventh Circuits' interpretation of section 209(a) to be persuasive, and we see no reason why we should read 209(b) in a contrary manner with respect to asylees who have acquired lawful permanent resident status. Although section 209(a) explicitly provides that adjustment under that section is unavailable to refugees who have already acquired permanent resident status, see 8 U.S.C. § 1159(a)(1)(C), and section 209(b) contains no such provision, the language of section 209(b) is nonetheless plain. It provides the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General with discretion to adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence the status of any alien granted asylum. ... 8 U.S.C. § 1159(b). Simply put, it allows the government to adjust an alien's status from asylee to LPR; it does not permit re-adjustment of status for asylees who have already acquired LPR status and we decline to expand the statute's coverage to such individuals. To do so would provide unique relief to asylees who have acquired LPR status, while precluding such relief for similarly situated refugees, many of whom, unlike petitioner, will not have been convicted of an aggravated felony. Significantly, the legislative history of the INA's asylum provisions supports our reluctance to treat refugees and asylees disparately, as it indicates that the two classes of aliens were to have essentially equivalent status under the law. The INA's asylum provisions were enacted into law pursuant to the Refugee Act of 1980. The Refugee Act, in addition to regulariz[ing] the procedures governing the admission of refugees into the United States, INS v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407, 425, 104 S.Ct. 2489, 81 L.Ed.2d 321 (1984), required the Attorney General to establish procedures for determining asylum claims filed by aliens who are physically present in the United States. Refugee Act of 1980, S.Rep. No. 96-256, at 9 (1980), reprinted in 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. 141, 149. The legislative history shows that Congress saw asylees and refugees as having similar status under the law, indicating that those granted asylum were to be placed into a conditional admission status equivalent in most respects to that provided under current law to refugees.  Id. (emphasis added). Nothing in the legislative history indicates that asylum status was so distinct that it conferred an exemption from statutes governing the conduct of other aliens admitted to the United States, or otherwise provided additional relief from removal that was unavailable to refugees. See Kaganovich, 470 F.3d at 898(agreeing with BIA's determination that INA's refugee provisions could not be read to immunize refugees from the INA's removal provision). Consistent with this history, we decline to read section 209(b) as providing asylees who have acquired LPR status with additional avenues for avoiding removal that are otherwise foreclosed to similarly situated refugees. In sum, at the time of his request for re-adjustment of status, Robleto retained his LPR status. See 8 C.F.R. § 1001.1(p). Section 209(b), by its plain language, contemplates an asylee's adjustment of status to LPR, and does not extend relief to aliens who have already acquired LPR status. This natural reading of section 209(b) is consistent with decisions of the Seventh and Fourth Circuits in the analogous context of refugees who have previously adjusted status, and with our prior decision in Kaganovich. Because petitioner advances no other theory of relief from removal, we deny his petition and hold that an alien who acquired lawful permanent resident status based on a prior grant of asylum may not re-apply for LPR status under section 209 in order to avoid removal.