Delfino Vasquez-Lopez v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Delfino Vasquez Lopez (“Petitioner”) seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) determination that his departure from the United States pursuant to a grant of voluntary departure under what is now 8 U.S.C. § 1229c occasioned a break in his “continuous physical presence in the United States” for the purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1229b, the cancellation of removal statute. We conclude that the BIA’s reading of § 1229b is entitled to Chevron deference and deny the petition for review.

I.

Petitioner claims that he illegally entered the United States in 1988. He admits that, at some point during the period from 1992 to 1994, he was arrested by immigration authorities, successfully applied for voluntary departure, and was escorted to Mexico by the Border Patrol. Shortly thereafter, he illegally reentered the United States.

In 1998, the INS initiated a removal proceeding against Petitioner by issuing him a Notice to Appear. Petitioner promptly applied to cancel the removal proceeding. The Immigration Judge (“U”) denied cancellation. The BIA conducted a de novo review and concluded that Petitioner lacked the ten years of continuous physical presence required to make…