Gutierrez-Perez

MEMORANDUM *

Juan Francisco Gutierrez-Perez petitions for review of a final order of removal entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). He challenges the Board’s determination that he is statutorily ineligible for discretionary relief from removal under either former INA § 212(c), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (c), or § 212(h), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (h).

We are presented at the outset with an insurmountable jurisdictional hurdle. Under the jurisdiction-stripping provision of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), we lack jurisdiction to review a final order of removal of an alien who is removable by reason of having committed a criminal offense covered in *362 § 1227(a)(2) (A) (iii). 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(2)(C). Gutierrez-Perez did not deny that he has been convicted of an aggravated felony that falls within this provision.

Gutierrez-Perez contends that we may nevertheless entertain his challenges, and the government agrees with him. The government contends that, despite the jurisdiction-stripping statute, we have jurisdiction to review “substantial constitutional claims,” which at the time of briefing included Gutierrez-Perez’s claim that §…