Ramos-Garcia
Ramos-Garcia v. Immigration & Naturalization Service
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM ***
Petition to Review a Decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
Alfredo Ramos-Garcia is a native and citizen of Mexico. He entered the United States around the end of January 1986 and filed an application for asylum in April 1997. That application was rejected, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) filed a Notice to Appear (“NTA”) with the Immigration Court on June 13, 1997. Ramos-Garcia appeared before the court with his mother who was in similar removal proceedings. In a decision dated May 18, 1998, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) ordered Ramos-Garcia removed to Mexico and granted him volun *502 tary departure. He appealed the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), which affirmed the IJ’s decision without opinion on June 21, 2001.
Ramos-Garcia’s sole contention before this court is that he was “in the pipeline” when the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”), Pub.L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996), became effective in April 1997. We have explained the basic difference between proceedings initiated before and after the effective date of IIRIRA as follows: