Castro

MEMORANDUM **

Irma Veronica Castro and her children Carlos Fernando Castro-Lerma and Francisco Javier Castro-Lerma (collectively “Petitioners”) petition for review of their final orders of deportation entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) on August 17, 2000. The facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties; they are not restated herein except as necessary.

Petitioners, natives and citizens of Mexico, entered the United States without inspection in July 1990. On November 8, 1996, they were served with Orders to Show Cause (“OSC”) why they should not be deported as aliens having entered the United States without inspection. In a decision dated May 29, 1997, an Immigration Judge pretermitted Petitioners’ applications for suspension of deportation because Petitioners had failed to meet the continuous physical presence requirement before being served with the OSC and thus were statutorily ineligible for suspension. On appeal, the BIA affirmed.

Petitioners contend that they were eligible for suspension of deportation and challenge the BIA’s decision that the “stop-time rule” — a new continuous physical presence requirement set forth in the Ille *595 gal…