Jorge Alberto Hernandez-Mezquita v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Jorge Alberto Hernandez-Mezquita, a native and citizen of El Salvador, entered the United States from Mexico .without inspection on June 15, 1985. Hernandez-Mezquita filed an asylum application on April 7, 1997. The INS then initiated removal proceedings against him on April 11, 1997. He now petitions for review of the BIA’s dismissal of his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s order denying his application for cancellation of removal under § 203(b) of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (“NA-CARA”), on the ground that he failed to file an application for asylum by April 1, 1990. Hernandez-Mezquita contends that NACARA’s April 1, 1990 asylum-fihng deadline violates equal protection and due process. He also objects to the BIA’s failure to extend the Immigration Judge’s grant of voluntary departure. We deny his petition.

I. Background

On September 30, 1996, Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”). Pub.L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009. Among other things, IIRIRA replaced “suspension of deportation” relief under old INA § 244 with “cancellation of removal” under INA § 240A(b), 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b),…