Renteria v. Holder, 09-1526.

• Decision Date: 04 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-1526.,09-1526.
• Parties: Crispin RENTERIA-LEDESMA; Claudia Renteria, Petitioners, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General of the United States of America, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

615 F.3d 903

Crispin RENTERIA-LEDESMA; Claudia Renteria, Petitioners,

v.Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General of the United States of America, Respondent.

No. 09-1526.

United States Court of Appeals,Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Dec. 17, 2009.

Filed: Aug. 4, 2010.

Kevin J. McCoy, Jason M. Finch, Omaha, NE, for petitioners.

Kathryn M. McKinney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, D.C., for respondent.

Before BYE, BEAM, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Crispin Renteria-Ledesma and his wife Claudia Renteria, citizens of Mexico, petition for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) that upheld the denial of the petitioners' applications for adjustment of status, filed pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i). The BIA acted based on the authority of In re Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. 355 (BIA 2007), which held that aliens inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) are not eligible for adjustment of status under § 1255(i). We conclude that the BIA's decision reflects a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statutory provision, and we therefore deny the petition for review.

I.

On July 31, 1998, Crispin Renteria-Ledesma departed the United States under a grant of voluntary departure issued by an immigration judge (“IJ”). He illegally reentered the United States without inspection on January 1, 1999. His wife, Claudia Renteria, entered the United States without inspection on April 1, 1999. On April 8, 2004, Renteria-Ledesma filed for an adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i), based on an approved Petition for Alien Relative filed by Renteria-Ledesma's father, who is a United States citizen. Claudia Renteria sought adjustment of status as a derivative applicant of her husband's application.

On March 29, 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) denied Renteria-Ledesma's application for adjustment of status, and then initiated removal proceedings against him and his wife. Both conceded that they were removable, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), as aliens present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. Renteria-Ledesma also admitted that he was removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I), as an alien who was “unlawfully present in the United States for an aggregate period of more than 1 year,” and who reentered the United States without being admitted. Renteria-Ledesma stipulated that he was unlawfully present in the United States for more than one year prior to his reentry into the United States on January 1, 1999.

At a hearing before an IJ, Renteria-Ledesma and his wife renewed their applications for adjustment of status under § 1255(i). The IJ, however, denied the applications on the ground that Renteria-Ledesma was inadmissible under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I). Relying on the BIA's decision in Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. 355, the IJ determined that the relevant statutes made aliens removable under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) ineligible for adjustment of status. The IJ then granted Renteria-Ledesma and his wife the opportunity for voluntary departure.

On administrative appeal, the BIA relied on Briones and found no clear error in the IJ's decision to deny Renteria-Ledesma's application for adjustment of status. The BIA noted that the Ninth and Tenth Circuits had held that aliens removable under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) are entitled to adjustment of status, but that there was no such authority from the Eighth Circuit. Accordingly, the BIA followed Briones and upheld the IJ's decision that Renteria-Ledesma was ineligible for adjustment of status under § 1255(i).

Renteria-Ledesma argues that the BIA's decision is contrary to the adjustment of status provision in § 1255(i). He also asserts that insofar as the statute is ambiguous, the BIA's interpretation of the statute in Briones is unreasonable.

II.

We give “substantial deference to the BIA's interpretation of the statutes and regulations it administers.” Cuadra v. Gonzales, 417 F.3d 947, 950 (8th Cir.2005). If the statute is unambiguous, then the agency must apply it. But if the BIA is confronted with an ambiguous statute, then we will defer to a reasonable interpretation of the statute by the agency, in accord with the doctrine of Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-45, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). See Ngengwe v. Mukasey, 543 F.3d 1029, 1033 (8th Cir.2008). ¹

Section 1255(i) provides that certain aliens who are “physically present in the United States,” and who entered without inspection, may apply for adjustment of status to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. The Attorney General may adjust the status of these aliens, if, among other conditions, “the alien is eligible to receive an immigrant visa and is admissible to the United States for permanent residence.” § 1255(i)(2)(A) (emphasis added).

Admissibility is determined according to 8 U.S.C. § 1182. This provision dictates that “[e]xcept as otherwise provided in this chapter, aliens who are inadmissible under the following paragraphs are ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be admitted to the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a). The opening clause of the section is a “savings clause,” which allows “admission of otherwise inadmissible aliens where the statute so provides.” Mora v. Mukasey, 550 F.3d 231, 234 (2d Cir.2008).

Section 1182(a)(6) governs admissibility of “[i]llegal entrants and immigration violators,” and provides that “[a]n alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, or who arrives in the United States at any time or place other than as designated by the Attorney General, is inadmissible.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). With one exception not relevant here, the statute provides that aliens present in the United States after an unlawful entry are inadmissible. See Mora, 550 F.3d at 234.

The statute also establishes another reason for inadmissibility that is central to this case. Section 1182(a)(9)(C) governs “[a]liens unlawfully present after previous immigration violations.” Subject to an exception not relevant here, § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i) provides:

Any alien who-

(I) has been unlawfully present in the United States for an aggregate period of more than 1 year, or

(II) has been ordered removed under section 1225(b)(1) of this title, section 1229a of this title, or any other provision of law,

and who enters or attempts to reenter the United States without being admitted is inadmissible.

8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i).

Renteria-Ledesma argues that the statutory language outlined above clearly entitles him to adjustment of status under § 1255(i). He asserts § 1255(i) expressly permits him to apply for adjustment as an alien who “entered the United States without inspection.” § 1255(i)(1)(A)(i). Although § 1255(i) also requires that an alien must be “admissible” to obtain adjustment of status, id. § 1255(i)(2)(A), and although Renteria-Ledesma is within the classes of aliens defined as “inadmissible” by § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) (as an alien “present in the United States without being admitted or paroled”) and by § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) (as an alien who has been “unlawfully present in the United States for an aggregate period of more than 1 year” and then attempts to reenter without admission), he contends that the “savings clause” of § 1182(a) authorizes the Attorney General nonetheless to consider him “admissible,” and to grant his application for adjustment.

The BIA in Briones concluded that aliens in one of the two classes-those inadmissible under § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i)-are still eligible for adjustment of status under § 1255(i), but not because of the savings clause. Rather, the BIA concluded that “a contrary interpretation would render the language of section [1255(i) ] so internally contradictory as to effectively vitiate the statute, an absurd result that Congress is presumed not to have intended.” Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 365. The contradiction arises from the fact that almost every alien authorized to apply for adjustment as an alien who “entered the United States without inspection,” 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(1)(A)(i), is also an alien who is “present in the United States without being admitted or paroled,” id. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), and “the plain language of the statute [thus] seems to make ‘entry without inspection’ both a qualifying and a disqualifying condition for adjustment of status.” Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 362. The agency declined to rely on the savings clause of § 1182(a), because the phrase “[e]xcept as otherwise provided in this chapter,” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a), “most naturally denotes an explicit proviso or stipulation that supplies a condition, exception, or limitation on other statutory language,” Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 365, and the statutes contained no such proviso.

The BIA also concluded, however, that aliens declared inadmissible under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I)-for attempting to reenter after having been present unlawfully for more than one year-are not eligible for adjustment under § 1255(i). The agency reasoned that no absurd consequences flowed from applying § 1182(a)(9)(C) as written, and that the text and history of the statute supported its conclusion.

The BIA first noted that § 1255(i)(1)(A) applies to a class of aliens who “entered the United States without inspection,” but that this class of aliens is not coextensive with the class of aliens declared inadmissible under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I). Briones, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 365. Rather, the BIA explained that aliens inadmissible under § 1182(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) were “recidivists” who reentered the United States illegally after an initial period of unlawful presence, and that these aliens constitute only a subset of those aliens who entered the United States without inspection as required by § 1255(i)(1)(A). See id. at 365-66. The opinion observed that the title of § 1182(a)(9)(C)-“[a]liens unlawfully present after previous immigration...