Aguilar-Navarrete v. Holder , 460 F. App'x 698 ( 2011 )


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  •                                                                               FILED
    NOT FOR PUBLICATION                              DEC 06 2011
    MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                          U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    AMILCAR AGUILAR-NAVARRETE,                       No. 07-70764
    Petitioner,                        Agency No. A024-224-603
    v.
    MEMORANDUM*
    ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
    Respondent.
    On Petition for Review of an Order of the
    Board of Immigration Appeals
    Submitted November 17, 2011**
    Stanford, California
    Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, FARRIS, Circuit Judge, and GETTLEMAN,
    Senior District Judge.***
    We defer to an agency’s permissible interpretation of a statute. Chevron
    U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 
    467 U.S. 837
    , 843 (1984); Contract
    *
    This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
    except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
    **
    The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
    without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
    ***
    The Honorable Robert W. Gettleman, Senior United States District
    Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
    Mgmt., Inc. v. Rumsfeld, 
    434 F.3d 1145
    , 1147 (9th Cir. 2006). Congress gave the
    Attorney General authority to adjust the status of admitted and paroled aliens. 
    8 U.S.C. § 1255
    (a). The promulgation of 
    8 C.F.R. §§ 245.2
     and 1245.2, delegating
    exclusive jurisdiction over the applications for adjustment of status by arriving
    aliens to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, is a permissible
    construction of statutory authority. See Scheerer v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 
    513 F.3d 1244
    ,
    1251 (11th Cir. 2008). Moreover, the amended regulations at 
    8 C.F.R. §§ 245.2
    and 1245.2 allow arriving aliens to apply for adjustment of status before the
    USCIS. They do not eliminate “statutory eligibility for such relief.” Bona v.
    Gonzalez, 
    425 F.3d 663
    , 670 (9th Cir. 2005).
    Aguilar contends that the Board of Immigration Appeals violated his due
    process rights when it denied his request to remand his case to the Immigration
    Judge, where he could request procedural relief from removal orders while he
    pursued his application for adjustment of status with the USCIS. This issue is
    moot. The USCIS denied Aguilar’s application for waiver of inadmissibility and
    ruled that he is ineligible to adjust status. This is not a live issue and we cannot
    fashion a form of meaningful relief. Flint v. Dennison, 
    488 F.3d 816
    , 823 (9th Cir.
    2007).
    2
    As USCIS has already denied Aguilar’s adjustment application, whether he
    is eligible for relief pursuant to Kalilu v. Mukasey, 
    548 F.3d 1215
     (9th Cir. 2008),
    is moot. See Flint, 
    488 F.3d at 823
    .
    DENIED.
    3