United States Fifth Circuit

A petition for review of a BIA decision, which found that petitioner was ineligible for discretionary hardship relief from deportation because in 1996 she was convicted by her plea of guilty for harboring aliens, is denied over primary claims of error regarding the retroactivity of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) amendments that made harboring aliens an aggravated felony.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/24/2007
• Published 04/25/2007

Judges

• E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:, Before JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Lisa S. Brodyaga (argued), Rufugio de Rio Grande, San Benito, TX, Javier N. Maldonado, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, San Antonio, TX, for Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Lawrence Ludka, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued), Corpus Christi, TX, Thomas Ward Hussey, Director, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Alberto R. Gonzales, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, Michael Taylor Shelby, Houston, TX, E.M. Trominski, Dist. Director, U.S. I.N.S., Lisa M. Putnam, Harlingen, TX, Trey Lund, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Field Office Director, Attn:  Carl Perry, New Orleans, LA, for Respondent.