Muncker

MEMORANDUM

Rodolfo Muncker (“Petitioner”) petitions for review of the final order of deportation entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) on February 29, 2000. Petitioner was served with an order to show cause (“OSC”) on February 16, 1996 — approximately five years and eight months after he entered the United States. At a hearing on October 31, 1996, the Immigration Judge denied Petitioner’s application for suspension of deportation because Petitioner had failed to establish extreme hardship from his deportation, and denied his application for asylum and withholding of deportation on the ground that Petition *680 er failed to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution. On appeal, the BIA applied the “stop-time rule” — a new continuous physical presence requirement set forth in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, 110 Stat. 3009 -625 — and held Petitioner was statutorily barred from suspension of deportation. The BIA also affirmed the IJ’s denial of asylum and withholding of deportation.

Petitioner contends that he was eligible for suspension of deportation and challenges the BIA’s decision to apply the…