De Mungarro v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Cruz Moran de Mungarro, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review from the BIA’s decision finding her statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(a), because she lacked the ten years of continuous presence required under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) prior to being served with a Notice to Appear (NTA). Petitioner had turned herself into the INS and was issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) on February 10, 1997, approximately 8y¿ years after she entered the United States. The OSC was never filed with the immigration court, and on June 6, 1997, the INS served a NTA and placed petitioner in removal proceedings. Petitioner contends she is entitled to the benefit of suspension of deportation relief under pre-IIRIRA law.

Under IIRIRA’s transitional rules, pre-IIRIRA law applies to aliens “in exclusion or deportation proceedings as of [April 1, 1997].” IIRIRA § 309(c)(1). Thus, the first issue is whether deportation proceedings were commenced when the INS served petitioner with the OSC in February 1997 or when the INS filed the NTA with the immigration court in June 1997. We…