Zoila Alvarez-Garcia v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Zoila Alvarez-Gareia petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (Board) decision to affirm, without opinion, an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) exclusion and deportation order. We follow the transitional rules for judicial review under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), Pub.L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-546, since immigration proceedings were initiated against Alvarez-Gareia before April 1, 1997, and her final order of exclusion was issued after October 31, 1996. Melkonian v. Ashcroft, 320 F.3d 1061 , 1064 n. 1 (9th Cir.2003). We thus have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a (1996), as amended by IIRIRA § 309(c), 110 Stat. at 3009-625 to 3009-627, and we deny Alvarez-Garcia’s petition.

I.

Alvarez-Gareia initially entered the United States without inspection in 1974. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officers arrested her in 1979, and she was subsequently granted a short period of time to depart voluntarily. After this time expired without her departure, a deportation warrant was issued in her name. Alvarez-Garcia’s next encounter with immigration officials occurred on December 20, 1994, when federal agents…