Almodiel

MEMORANDUM **

Alma Ignacio Almodiel (“Almodiel”) entered the United States on September 30, 1989. She was served with an Order to Show Cause (“OSC”) on December 14, 1995, and conceded deportabihty at a hearing before an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) on May 2, 1996. On October 18, 1996, the IJ denied Almodiel’s application for suspension of deportation because the IJ believed that she was statutorily ineligible for such relief under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”), enacted on September 30, 1996. In particular, the IJ ruled that, under IIRIRA’s “stop-time rule,” see INA § 240A(d)(l), 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(d)(l), Almodiel had not accrued seven years of continuous physical presence in the United States before being served with an OSC. Almodiel appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), which affirmed the IJ’s decision on June 8,1999.

In Astrero v. INS, 104 F.3d 264 (9th Cir.1996), we held that the stop-time rule was not effective until the general effective date of IIRIRA on April 1, 1997. Therefore, when the IJ in this case applied the stop-time rule to Almodiel on October 18, 1996, he subjected her to the rule before its…