Husic v. HolderHusic v. Holder
Petitioner Hasim Husic, a native of the former Yugoslavia and citizen of Montenegro, seeks review of a February 4, 2014 non-precedential decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the September 18, 2013 decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) (Sagerman, I.J.), which ordered Husic’s removal, denied his request for a waiver of inadmissibility under Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 212(h),
This case presents an issue of first impression in this Circuit — whether an alien who lawfully entered the country without lawful permanent resident (“LPR”) status but later adjusted to LPR status is eligible to seek a waiver of inadmissibility under INA § 212(h). We join seven sister Circuits and find that an alien like Husic is unambiguously not “an alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” INA § 212(h),
BACKGROUND
Petitioner is a 65-year-old native of the former Yugoslavia and citizen of Montenegro. He entered the United States as a B-2 visitor on or about July 5, 1994, was subsequently granted political asylum in 1995, and became an LPR on July 28,1998 based upon an application for adjustment of status. Husic’s wife of 39 years is also an LPR. He and his wife are the parents of three children, two LPRs and a U.S. citizen.
On or about August 21, 2012, Husic pleaded guilty to violating
Then, on or about February 11, 2013, Husic was served with a Notice to Appear. He was charged with removability pursuant to INA § 237(a)(2)(C) and 237(a)(2)(A)(iii). Removal proceedings commenced before the IJ. Husic eventually admitted to the allegations in the Notice to Appear, admitted the charge of remova-bility based on a firearms offense, and denied the two removal charges based on aggravated felonies. Counsel then informed the IJ of Husic’s intention to apply for a waiver under INA § 212(h)(1)(B).
On September 18, 2013, the IJ issued an oral decision. He held that Husic’s conviction constituted an aggravated felony under both INA § 101(a)(43)(F) and 101(a)(43)(U). The IJ further held that, although Husic “expressed his desire to apply for adjustment of status under Section 245 of the [INA] with a waiver of inadmissibility under Section 212(h),” Husic was not eligible for such relief because he is an LPR who has been convicted of an aggravated felony and therefore “cannot obtain the necessary waiver under Section 212(h) ..., as is the prevailing view of the immigration laws here in the Second Circuit.” Special App. 4. Finally, the IJ denied Husic’s motion for a continuance to pursue a collateral attack of the conviction.
Husic appealed to the BIA, and on February 4, 2014, the BIA dismissed the appeal, largely adopting the IJ’s reasoning. The instant petition for review was timely filed on February 26, 2014.
On appeal, Husic challenges the IJ and BIA’s decisions (1) finding that he is ineligible for adjustment of status under INA § 245 because he was convicted of an aggravated felony and is therefore ineligible for a § 212(h) waiver and (2) denying his application for a continuance to pursue post-conviction relief.
We review questions of law de novo, but must give appropriate deference under Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. (“Chevron”),
1. Husic’s Eligibility for a Waiver Under INA § 212(h)
We first consider whether the IJ and BIA erred in finding that Husic is ineligible to seek a waiver of inadmissibility under INA § 212(h).
By way of background, Husic requests a discretionary adjustment of status under-INA § 245(a). To be eligible for such adjustment, however, he must, inter alia, be “admissible to the United States for permanent residence.”
The INA also defines two sets of terms contained in § 212(h) that are central to this petition. INA § 101(a)(13)(A) provides that “[t]he terms ‘admission’ and ‘admitted’ mean, with respect to an alien, the lawful entry of the alien into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer.” Id. § 1101(a)(13)(A). Additionally, INA § 101(a)(20) defines the term “lawfully admitted for permanent residence” as “the status of having been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws, such status not having changed.” Id. § 1101(a)(20).
Husic contends that although he was convicted of an aggravated felony, the § 212(h) aggravated-felony bar does not apply to him because he is not “an alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” He reasons that he was admitted to the United States as a visitor, and not as an LPR, and therefore attained LPR status through adjustment of status, rather than when he was admitted into the country. Seven of our sister Circuits have held that a person in Husic’s position is eligible to seek a waiver of inadmissibility based upon the plain language of § 212(h). See, e.g., Hanif v. Att’y Gen.,
In response, the government contends that Husic is barred from seeking a § 212(h) waiver because the BIA reasonably interpreted the ambiguous provision to find that Husic is “an alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” Under the BIA’s interpretation, Husic was “admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence” when he obtained LPR status following the approval of his application for adjustment of status. In support of its view, the government relies on the one Circuit decision adopting its view, see Roberts, 745 F.3d 928, as well as intratextual arguments, legislative history, and a purposive invocation to avoid absurd results.
We afford “Chevron deference” to the BIA’s interpretations of statutes when those interpretations are issued as binding, published decisions. See Ganzhi,
The Chevron inquiry is two-fold. We must first “consider de novo whether Congress has clearly spoken to the question at issue.” Mizrahi,
The key question -on appeal is whether there is such a statutory ambiguity in INA § 212(h), and if so, whether the BIA reasonably resolved that ambiguity in finding that someone like Husic, who was admitted to the United States as a visitor and later adjusted to LPR status, was an “an alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”
We begin with the text of the statute. See, e.g., Mizrahi,
The definitions provided in the INA draw an important distinction between the phrase “lawfully admitted for permanent residence” and the stand-alone term “admitted,” and § 212(h) uses both terms. After substituting both definitions into § 212(h), the relevant provision can be understood as follows: ,
No waiver shall be granted under this subsection in the case of an alien who has previously been [granted “lawful entry ... into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer”] as an alien [with “the status of having been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws, such status not having changed,”] if either since the date of such admission the alien has been convicted of an aggravated felony or the alien has not lawfully resided continuously in the United States for a period of not less than 7 years immediately preceding the date of initiation of proceedings to remove the alien from the United States.
Applying the statutory definitions, we find that Husic is not “an alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for
We reach this conclusion for several reasons. First, and contrary to the government’s position, Husic was not “admitted” when he became an LPR in 1998 through adjustment of status. The IIRIRA expressly defined “[t]he term[ ] ... ‘admitted’ [to] mean, with respect to an alien, the lawful entry of the alien into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer.” IIRIRA, Pub.L. No. 104-208, Div. C, § 301, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-575 (codified at
Because' Husic had already lawfully entered the United States in 1994 and was already residing in this country in 1998, there was no “entry” when he adjusted to LPR status. Adjustment is the change of an alien’s status to “that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”
Second, Husic’s proposed interpretation avoids rendering certain portions of § 212(h) iheaningless surplusage. See, e.g., Duncan v. Walker,
The government recognizes the facial strength of Husic’s textual arguments. See Roberts,
Even though the text of the relevant provision appears unambiguous upon initial review, we consider the government’s intratextual arguments because the text of a statute, when taken as a whole, can provide further context for interpreting a specific provision. See Davis v. Michigan Dep’t of Treasury,
For example, the government points to the statutory language in
The government also argues that Husic’s preferred interpretation of
We further observe that even if we were to consider the government’s arguments regarding legislative history and absurd results, those arguments are not winning ones. The legislative history as to this specific provision is quite sparse and provides tenuous support for both sides’ positions. For example, the government’s highly generalized invocations of legislative purpose are based on scraps of legislative history that have been rejected by other Circuits. See, e.g., H.R.Rep. No. 104-469, pt. I, at 225-26 (1996); see also, e.g., Hanif,
Additionally, while it is true that Husic has not identified a specific congressional motivation for barring only LPRs who lawfully entered as LPRs from obtaining a discretionary § 212(h) waiver, it is not our job to speculate, particularly in light of the unambiguous text and the absence of meaningful legislative history, as to why Congress might have drafted this statutory provision in the way that it did. We are also not persuaded that it is an absurd result for Congress to have exempted from the § 212(h) aggravated-felony bar those who became LPRs through adjustment. The government argues that such an exemption of aliens who became LPRs through adjustment is absurd because a large portion of LPRs attain their status through adjustment. But the prevalence of adjustment as an avenue for LPR status could just as readily show that Congress was at least aware of this pathway to LPR status when it enacted this provision in the way that it did. The prevalence of adjustment therefore does not lend definitive support to either party’s position.
Having found that the § 212(h) aggravated-felony bar does not apply to aliens in Husic’s position, we must determine the precise scope of our decision. At oral argument, the government asserted that we must decide the full scope of the § 212(h) bar in this case. The government argues that if we rule in Husic’s favor, we would also need to exempt other LPRs, including those who initially entered without inspection, from the § 212(h) aggravated-felony bar. According to the government, the exemption of other types of LPRs from the § 212(h) bar would produce inconsistent or absurd results in light of other provisions of the INA.
II. Husic’s Entitlement to a Continuance to Pursue Post-Conviction Relief
Husic also petitioned for this Court’s review of the IJ and BIA’s decisions to deny his request for a continuance to pursue post-conviction remedies. At oral argument, however, Husic’s counsel conceded that this challenge was moot because of the amount of time that had passed since the original request for a continuance. We agree and therefore dismiss this portion of Husic’s petition because the issues presented are moot.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we GRANT the petition in part, VACATE Husic’s removal order to permit his application for a waiver of inadmissibility under § 212(h), DISMISS the remainder of the petition as moot, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion. Each party shall bear its own costs on this petition.
Notes
. On October 20, 2014, we granted permission to the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Council to file a joint brief in support of the petitioner as amici curiae.
. Neither party has challenged this Court’s jurisdiction to consider this portion of Husic’s petition. Because we have an independent obligation to ascertain our jurisdiction, we have considered the basis for our jurisdiction. Even though we generally lack jurisdiction to review "any judgment regarding the granting of relief under [INA § 212(h)],”
. The parties do not raise the question of whether the crime of which Husic was convicted —