Opinion ID: 42950
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ahmed’s Statutory Claims

Text: We now turn to Ahmed’s statutory claims. Under the provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i), certain aliens such as Ahmed who were physically but unlawfully present in the United States were given the opportunity to apply for an “adjustment of status 8 . . . to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” Ahmed argues, citing the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Subhan, that the immigration judge’s refusal to continue his removal proceedings violated § 1255(i) because the immigration judge failed to give a reason consistent with § 1255(i) for his refusal. In Subhan, the Seventh Circuit granted an alien’s petition for review taken from decisions very similar to the decisions we review in this matter. The immigration judge in Subhan granted two requests by an alien petitioner for a continuance pending the adjudication of a timely filed labor certification but denied a third request, stating that although the petitioner might “‘be able to eventually acquire lawful permanent resident status by virtue of employment,’ not having done so as yet he was ‘not eligible for this form of relief at this time.’” Subhan, 383 F.3d at 593. The Seventh Circuit held that the immigration judge’s reason for denying the continuance was no reason at all, “but merely a statement of the obvious: that the labor departments hadn’t yet acted.” Id. Therefore, the Seventh Circuit granted the alien’s petition for review, concluding “that the immigration judge, seconded by the Board of Immigration Appeals . . . violated [8 U.S.C. §] 1255(i) when he denied Subhan a continuance without giving a reason consistent with the statute (indeed without giving any reason).” Id. at 595. 9 The Eleventh Circuit has also considered this issue and reached the opposite conclusion. In Zafar, decided over a year after Subhan, the Eleventh Circuit considered a petition for review from aliens who claimed that their immigration judges had abused their discretion by refusing to continue the alien petitioners’ removal proceedings pending the resolution of labor certifications. 426 F.3d at 1332-33. Like Ahmed, the Zafar petitioners argued that the immigration judges’ orders of removal and refusals to continue the proceedings violated their constitutional equal protection and due process rights as well as rights created by § 1255(i). Id. Because the alien petitioners in Zafar offered only “the ‘speculative’ possibility that at some point in the future they may receive . . . [a] labor certification,” the Eleventh Circuit held that they had “failed to demonstrate that they had a visa petition ‘immediately available’ to them . . . .” Id. at 1336. Therefore, at the time the Zafar immigration judges denied the alien petitioners’ “motions to continue their removal proceedings, it [was] clear that the petitioners were ineligible for adjustments to permanent resident status under [8 U.S.C.] § 1255(i) . . . .” Id. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that the immigration judges could not have abused their discretion by refusing to continue the petitioners’ proceedings for relief from removal because the 10 petitioners were ineligible for the adjustment relief requested. Id. But for § 1255(i), Ahmed, like the Zafar petitioners, would have no grounds for an adjustment of status, because 8 U.S.C. § 1255(c) specifically bars “an alien crewman” who overstays his visa from receiving an adjustment of status. Section 1255(i) creates a specific exception from § 1255(c) by stating that [n]otwithstanding the provisions of [§ 1255(c)], an alien [such as Ahmed] . . . . [with] a labor certification . . . that was filed pursuant to the regulations of the Secretary of Labor . . . . may apply to the Attorney General for the adjustment of his or her status to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(1). Section 1255(i) does not, however, create an automatic or a mandatory exception to § 1255(c). To receive such an adjustment of status, a removable alien’s § 1255(i) application must be accompanied by an available immigrant visa, and the entire application for adjustment of status must meet with the discretionary approval of the Attorney General or his designee. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(2) (stating that “[u]pon receipt of such an application and the sum hereby required, the Attorney General may adjust the status of the alien to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence if (A) the alien is eligible to receive an immigrant visa and is admissible to the United States for permanent residence; and (B) an immigrant visa is immediately available to the alien at the time the application is filed”) (emphasis added). Ahmed concedes that an immigrant 11 visa was not otherwise available to him. Therefore, at the time of his removal hearing, Ahmed had begun only the first preliminary step toward completing a § 1255(i) application for removal relief, and nothing in § 1255(i) vested any right to relief from removal when he filed his labor certification.3 We agree with our sister circuit that in some situations, “the wheels of bureaucracy grind slow,” Subhan, 383 F.3d at 593, but the most important wheels in this matter have already turned. The relevant immigration authorities have decided both that Ahmed is removable and that he should be removed. Ahmed’s pending labor certification would not have made him any less removable even if it had been processed at the time of his hearing before the immigration judge. In order to receive relief from removal on the undisputed facts, Ahmed needed to receive an adjustment of status, and the receipt of his pending labor certification was only the first step in this long and discretionary process. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(2), discussed supra. Various immigration officials could have properly exercised their discretion, denied Ahmed’s application for an adjustment of status, and ensured his removal at any of these subsequent discretionary points. In this 3 In other words, had Ahmed received his labor certification and completed the very first step in this process, he would still have needed an employer, presumably American Rags, to file an employment-based visa petition on his behalf with DHS, and he would have needed that visa petition to have been approved. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(2)(A), discussed supra. Only then would he have been eligible for the discretionary removal relief contemplated by § 1255(i). 12 matter, the immigration judge simply exercised his discretion at the first stage of this lengthy and discretionary process when he refused to grant Ahmed a continuance for lack of good cause. The immigration judge’s reasons for this refusal were correct; Ahmed lacked good cause for a continuance because he was ineligible for removal relief under the relevant statutes. Therefore, we decline to hold that the decision to end this lengthy and discretionary adjustment of status process was itself an abuse of discretion. Cf. Zafar, 426 F.3d at 1336 (citing, inter alia, Onyeme v. INS, 146 F.3d 227, 234 (4th Cir. 1998) (finding no abuse of discretion in BIA’s affirmance of immigration judge’s refusal to continue proceedings when an alien petitioner failed to meet all statutory requirements for adjustment of status), and Oluyemi v. INS, 902 F.2d 1032, 1034 (1st Cir. 1990) (same)).