Hazime v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

LIVELY, Senior Circuit Judge. The petitioner, Jamal Ahmad Hazime, a permanent resident alien, was convicted of a drug charge some eight years after his arrival in the United States. He conceded that he was subject to deportation, but sought relief under section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c) (the Act). Section 212(c) vests the Attorney General of the United States, or her delegate, with the discretion to waive deportation for aliens, otherwise deportable, who have maintained "a lawful unrelinquished domicile of seven consecutive years."