United States Ninth Circuit

In an immigration case, petition for relief from a removal order is denied where: 1) all aliens present in the U.S. on the date of enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) had a deadline of April 30, 2001 to apply for adjustment of status under section 245(i) of the INA, which allows procedural benefits to spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents; 2) INA section 245(i) is a statute of repose, thus not subject to equitable tolling for a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel; and 3) failure by petitioner's counsel to file petitioner's application on time did not implicate the Fifth Amendment because it did not affect the fundamental fairness of any ongoing hearing.

Appellate Information

• Argued 08/27/2008
• Decided 10/24/2008
• Published 10/24/2008

Judges

• Before:  T.G. NELSON, HAWKINS, and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Carol L. Edward, Eric P. Lin, and Shannon M. Underwood, Law Offices of Carol L. Edward & Associates, P.S., Seattle, WA, for the petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Peter D. Keisler, Stephen J. Flynn, and Dalin R. Holyoak, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, DC, for the respondent.