Phong Thanh Nguyen v. ChertoffPhong Thanh Nguyen v. Chertoff
Vietnamese national Phong Thanh Nguyen is a legal permanent resident of the United States who, in 1989, two years after entering this country, pleaded guilty to a disturbing crime: the rape of a five-year-old child. Although Nguyen’s rape conviction did not then render him deportable as
Subsequent to these events, Congress both prospectively repealed the JRAD statute,
see
Immigration Act of 1990 (“IM-MACT”), Pub.L. No. 101-649, § 505, 104 Stat. 4978, 5050, and retroactively expanded the definition of aggravated felony to include,
inter alia,
the rape of a minor and crimes of violence resulting in a term of imprisonment of at least one year, see Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRI-RA”), Pub. L. No. 104-208, § 321(a), .110 Stat. 3009-546, 627-28 (codified at
For the reasons stated herein, we conclude that, while Nguyen is certainly now deportable as an aggravated felon, the relevant statutory texts support his JRAD defense. Accordingly, we grant Nguyen’s petition for review, and we remand his case to the BIA with directions that, consistent with this opinion, it give effect to the JRAD. In light of this ruling, we need not discuss Nguyen’s other challenges to removal.
I. Factual Background
A. Nguyen’s State Conviction and the Grant of a JRAD
Phong Thanh Nguyen entered the United States as a refugee from Vietnam in 1987. In 1988, he became a legal permanent resident. By guilty plea entered on April 5, 1989, Nguyen was convicted in
B. Nguyen’s Immigration Proceedings
In 1990, Congress repealed the JRAD statute. See IMMACT § 505(a),
Congress subsequently broadened the definition of aggravated felony to include,
inter alia,
the rape or sexual abuse of a minor and crimes of violence resulting in a term of imprisonment of at least one year.
See
IIRIRA § 321(a),
The IJ denied Nguyen’s requested relief, finding that the IIRIRA amendments rendered him deportable as an aggravated felon despite his JRAD. The BIA affirmed this decision, holding that, while Nguyen’s JRAD remained effective to bar his deportation for a crime of moral turpitude, IIRIRA’s retroactive expansion of the definition of aggravated felony effectively created a new ground for removal not covered by the JRAD.
C. Nguyen’s Federal Court Action
In May 2004, Nguyen attempted to challenge the INS order of removal by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the
II. Discussion
A. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review
Jurisdiction in this case depends on
We apply
de novo
review to questions of law raised in petitions for review of removal orders.
See, e.g., Khouzam v. Ashcroft,
B. Nguyen’s JRAD Bars His Deportation on the Ground that His Massachusetts Conviction Now Qualifies as an Aggravated Felony
The resolution of this petition turns on the scope of protection afforded by Nguyen’s 1989 JRAD. Nguyen submits that his JRAD absolutely shields him from the use of his Massachusetts conviction as a ground for deportation, either as a crime of moral turpitude or an aggravated felony. Respondents assert that Nguyen’s JRAD precludes deportation only “on any applicable ground[ ] for deportation in effect in 1989, to wit, moral turpitude” or an “aggravated felony conviction
as defined in 1989.”
Respondents’ Br. at 22 & n. 8 (emphasis added). Because Nguyen’s crime of conviction was not defined as an aggravated felony in 1989, respondents insist that the expanded 1996 definition of aggravated felony created a new ground of deportability from which the JRAD cannot shield him. In support of this argument, respondents point us to
United States v. Yacoubian,
1. The Relevant Statutory Texts
The law, is well established that statutory construction begins with text because if the language of a statute is “unambiguous,” no further inquiry is required.
Robinson v. Shell Oil Co.,
a. Statutory Provisions for the Deportation of Aggravated Felons
The INS sought to deport Nguyen on the ground that he was an aggravated felon pursuant to
Congress first identified an aggravated felony conviction as a ground for deportation in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub.L. No. 100-690, 102 Stat. 4181. The relevant provision in effect at the time Nguyen’s JRAD was entered read as follows:
Any alien in the United States ... shall, upon the order of the Attorney General, be deported who ... [(A)] is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years after entry and either sentenced to confinement or confined therefor in a prison or corrective institution, for a year or more, or who at any time after entry is convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude, not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct, regardless of whether confined therefor and regardless of whether the convictions were in a single trial; or ... (B) is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after entry.
In 1990, IMMACT redesignated
As this statutory development makes plain, since 1988 and through various reco-
b. The JRAD Statute
Until 1990, the INA afforded aliens who received judicial recommendations against deportation an important exception to removal. This JRAD statute stated:
The provisions of subsection (a)(4) of this section respecting the deportation of an alien convicted of a crime or crimes shall not apply ... if the court sentencing such alien for such crime shall make, at the time of first imposing judgment or passing sentence, or within thirty days thereafter, a recommendation to the Attorney General that such alien shall not be deported, due notice having been given prior to making such recommendation to the representatives of the interested State, the Service, and prosecution authorities, who shall be granted an opportunity to make representations in the matter.
At the time of Nguyen’s conviction, the referenced “provisions of subsection (a)(4),” as noted earlier, identified two grounds rendering an alien deportable: a conviction for a crime of moral turpitude and a conviction for an aggravated felony.
See
Thus, in determining the scope of Nguyen’s claimed JRAD protection, we must consider whether expansions in the INA’s definition of “aggravated felony,” particularly those enacted after the 1990 repeal of the JRAD statute, create new and distinct grounds for deportation separate from those articulated in
c. The Statutory Definition of “Aggravated Felony”
When, in 1988, the INA first identified an alien’s aggravated felony conviction as a ground for deportation, the Act defined aggravated felony to include a relatively small class of crimes: murder, specified drug and firearms offenses, as well as conspiracies and attempts to commit such crimes.
See
Respondents’ argument is unconvincing for several reasons. First, it conflates the grounds for deportation with the definition of those grounds. The INA distinguishes between these concepts, specifying the grounds that can render an alien deportable in one statutory section and defining those grounds as generally applicable terms in another.
Compare
A second and even more persuasive reason for us to reject respondents’ argument is Congress’s explicit direction to give retroactive effect to IIRIRA’s expanded definition of aggravated felony. The concluding sentence of
Had Congress intended for “aggravated felony” to have different meanings in these two contexts, one would expect it to have stated that IIRIRA’s definitional amendments applied retroactively
except
to the extent such application expanded previously afforded JRAD relief. We may assume, after all, that Congress was aware of the administrative rule giving-continued effect to existing JRADs when it mandated retroactive application of the expanded 1996 definition of aggravated felony.
See generally Lorillard v. Pons,
2. Yacoubian Does Not Support the Agency Decision
Respondents’ reliance on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in
United States v. Yacotibian,
The “new ground” that rendered Yacou-bian deportable despite his earlier receipt of a JRAD was not any definitional expansion of the moral turpitude or aggravated felony grounds specified in
III. Conclusion
To summarize, we conclude that Nguyen’s 1989 Massachusetts conviction for
Accordingly, Nguyen’s petition for review is GRANTED and his case is Remanded to the BIA with directions that the agency give effect to his JRAD consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. Because the term “moral turpitude” is undefined by statute, this court has been inclined to defer to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA’s”) construction.
See Rodriguez v. Gonzales,
. Mindful that Congress has now consolidated what were previously known as deportation and exclusion proceedings into a single category called removal proceedings,
see Evangelista v. Ashcroft,
. Pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub.L. 107-296, § 441, 116 Stat. 2135, 2193 (codified at
.
. This change was part of the new terminology endorsed by IIRIRA.
See
. The same structural distinction between the grounds for deportation and generally applicable definitions existed at the time of Nguyen's 1989 conviction.
Compare
. Among these is a new subsection rendering deportable any alien "convicted of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment.” IIRIRA § 350,