United States v. Hernandez-Arias

If one’s temporary resident status is terminated, it acts as a revocation of any prior admission and he or she will return to the status of an inadmissible alien who is subject to removal.

Jose Luis Hernandez-Arias came to the United States without inspection and, in 1988, he was granted temporary resident status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 8 U.S.C. § 1255a. When he was criminally convicted in 1991, this temporary resident status was terminated. He was then paroled in 1992. Later, following a misdemeanor conviction, Hernandez-Arias was served a Notice to Appear, due to his violation of § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), which is entitled “Inadmissible Aliens.” He was subsequently removed from the United States. On appeal, Hernandez-Arias argues that this removal order violated his due process rights because he was removed as “an alien present in the United States who has not been admitted or paroled,” yet he had received temporary resident status. The Ninth Circuit disagreed with Hernandez-Arias, because his temporary resident status had been terminated. Based on statutory language and explicit definitions in the INA, the panel found that termination of one’s temporary resident status is a revocation of any prior admission that he or she had. Although it did not rule as to whether temporary resident status would qualify as admission, it assumed that such would be true. AFFIRMED.