Rivera-Martinez

MEMORANDUM **

Margarita Guadalupe Rivera-Martinez and her daughter, Esmeralda Rivera-Cuevas (“Petitioners”), natives and citizens of Mexico, petition for review of a final order of deportation entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) on June 17, 1999. Petitioners were served with an order to show cause (“OSC”) on January 30, 1996 — approximately six years and ten months after they entered the United States. At a hearing on October 11, 1996, the Immigration Judge granted Petitioners’ application for suspension of deporta *550 tion. The Immigration and Naturalization Service appealed to the BIA. On appeal, the BIA determined that Petitioners had failed to meet the continuous physical presence requirement before being served with the OSC and thus were statutorily ineligible for suspension. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) section 309(c), and we deny the petition.

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…