Can a noncitizen be “inadmissible” if they are not seeking admission to the U.S.?

[Elderberry]

SCOTUSblog by Jayesh Rathod 10/28/2019

Argument preview: Can a noncitizen be “inadmissible” if they are not seeking admission to the U.S.?

With public attention focused squarely on the DACA litigation, Barton v. Barr is not the marquee immigration case for the October 2019 term. Nevertheless, the case presents a compelling question of statutory interpretation, and has the potential to affect thousands of noncitizens with criminal records who face removal from the United States. In Barton, the Supreme Court is examining once again the stop-time rule – the same provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that the justices dissected in Pereira v. Sessions in 2018.

For over a century, U.S. immigration law has offered some form of relief to noncitizens who have substantial ties to the country yet find themselves in removal proceedings. Congress set forth the present-day iteration of that form of relief, cancellation of removal, with the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The cancellation of removal statute, now codified in 8 U.S.C. Section 1229b, lays out two distinct forms of relief: one for lawful permanent residents (commonly known as LPR cancellation), and another for noncitizens who are not permanent residents. The LPR cancellation statute, Section 1229b(a), which is implicated in Barton, requires, among other things, that the applicant have “resided in the United States continuously for 7 years after having been admitted in any status.”

IIRIRA also concretized a fundamental distinction in immigration law between inadmissibility and deportability. The grounds of inadmissibility, laid out in Section 1182(a), comprise a list of undesirable attributes and past acts that lead to the exclusion of noncitizens who are seeking admission to the United States. The grounds of deportability, in Section 1227(a), can trigger the expulsion of a noncitizen, including a permanent resident, who has already been admitted. Although there is overlap between these sections of the INA, there are notable distinctions; conduct that could lead to one’s exclusion may not trigger deportability, and vice versa. In general, however, the grounds of inadmissibility are more stringent.

More: https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/10/argument-preview-can-a-noncitizen-be-inadmissible-if-they-are-not-seeking-admission-to-the-u-s/