Lopez-Scavone

MEMORANDUM *

Alejandro Lopez-Seavone (“Lopez-Scavone”), a native of Argentina, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of his request for suspension of deportation and voluntary departure. The BIA found that LopezScavone was statutorily ineligible for suspension of deportation because he had not accrued the requisite seven years of continuous physical presence in the United States, and that he was ineligible for voluntary departure because he lied regarding the facts relating to a prior conviction for writing bad checks and was therefore per se not a person of good moral character. Emilia Lopez-Cota (“Lopez-Cota”), a native of Mexico, and the wife of LopezScavone, petitions for review of the BIA’s denial of her request for suspension of deportation. The BIA found Lopez-Cota ineligible because she had not accrued the requisite seven years of continuous physical presence. Lopez-Cota, unlike her husband, was granted voluntary departure. The transitional rules of IIRIRA apply to the Lopezes’ appeal.

Before IIRIRA, an alien was eligible for suspension of deportation if he or she “ha[d] been physically present in the United States for a continuous…