Rent lied to us.

All the singing and dancing about five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred-minutes? Nonsense.

In a case to file under “lies-the-justice-system-perpetuates,” the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the only way to measure a year for immigration removal procedures is with the inaccurate 365-day calendar.

So how many days are really in a year?

This would solve the problem if a natural year was actually 365.25 days, but it’s not. Adding a full day every four years ends up overcompensating.

To correct this, the Gregorian calendar approximates the natural year at 365.2425 days. As a result, the powers-that-be omit leap year every 100 years, in years ending in “00,” except once every 400 years. Therefore, while the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years; the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, scoffs at science, finding that it does not answer the question of how long one year is for immigration removal.

For example, Jawid Habibi, a lawful permanent resident, received a 365-day suspended sentence for battery in 1999, which he served through the year 2000, a leap year. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently claimed that the conviction made Habibi removable as an alien convicted of a domestic violence crime.

Habibi requested cancellation of immigration removal, but the immigration judge found that Habibi was not eligible for cancellation because his conviction constituted an “aggravated felony.” Habibi then argued that, because an “aggravated felony” term of imprisonment is at least one year," and because his 365-day sentence was completed during a 366-day leap year, his conviction did not qualify as an “aggravated felony.”

The immigration judge, clearly unimpressed by this novel defense, rejected the argument, noting that “it is well settled that … 365 days … would be the equivalent of a legal year.” The Board of Immigration Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals were likewise unimpressed, and affirmed Habibi’s removal.

The problem is not an unwavering commitment to measuring a year in daylights, sunsets, midnights, and coffee, (which would actually support Habibi’s argument); instead, the court noted that adopting Habibi’s fluctuating measure of a year would lead to unjust and absurd results.

Related Resources:

  • Habibi v. Holder (FindLaw’s CaseLaw)
  • Stark Raving Mad? Cal Court Says Ecstasy Not Controlled Substance (FindLaw’s California Case Law blog)
  • Vague 4th Amendment Violation Claim? No Immigration Appeal Win (FindLaw’s Seventh Circuit blog)
  • Court Upholds Day Laborers First Amendment Right to Solicit Work (FindLaw’s Ninth Circuit blog)

You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help

Civil Rights

Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

Criminal

Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records

Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules