Bozo Kelava v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

Bozo Kelava, a Croatian national, seeks review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA concluded Kelava was ineligible for a discretionary waiver of inadmissibility or cancellation of removal for having engaged in terrorist activity. In an issue of first impression, Kelava argues it is impermissibly retroactive to deny him eligibility for previously available discretionary relief, relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 , 121 S.Ct. 2271 , 150 L.Ed.2d 347 (2001). We deny his petition.

PACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kelava, an anti-communist dissident, came to the United States from the Croatian region of the former Yugoslavia as a refugee in 1969. He became a legal permanent resident in 1972.

In the late 1970’s, the Federal Republic of Germany (“West Germany”) began deporting and extraditing Croatian dissidents to Yugoslavia where they were allegedly being tortured and executed. In April 1978, Kelava and another man entered the West German Consulate in Chicago, armed with handguns, ropes and a phony bomb. United States v. Kelava, 610 F.2d 479, 480 (7th Cir.1979). They seized several employees (including a Consular…