## Facts

- Melanie Beaucejour Jean, a native and citizen of Haiti, entered the United States as a refugee with her husband and five children.
- Her family asserted serious past persecution in Haiti connected to her husband’s opposition political activity, including killings of relatives and destruction of family homes.
- After admission as a refugee and before adjusting to lawful permanent resident status, Jean was convicted in state court of second-degree manslaughter.
- She admitted beating and shaking to death a 19-month-old child left in her care.
- After serving a four-year sentence, immigration authorities initiated removal proceedings.
- Conditions and political power in Haiti had changed by the time of the Attorney General’s decision, including the rise of the husband’s former opposition party to government control.

## Issues

1. Whether the 30-day deadline to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is mandatory and jurisdictional, and when it begins to run.
2. Whether the BIA may use its certification authority to cure untimely filings or otherwise circumvent regulatory deadlines based on hardship.
3. What standard governs the exercise of discretion for a waiver under INA § 209(c) to permit a refugee convicted of a serious crime to adjust status.
4. Whether asylum and other discretionary relief may be denied to an applicant who is technically eligible but has committed a violent or dangerous crime, absent extraordinary circumstances.

## Decision

- The Attorney General overruled the BIA’s decision granting Jean adjustment of status and other relief.
- The Attorney General held the 30-day BIA appeal deadline is mandatory and jurisdictional and begins upon issuance of a final disposition.
- The Attorney General held BIA certification is limited to exceptional circumstances and is not a general mechanism to excuse late filings or regulatory noncompliance.
- The Attorney General adopted a heightened discretionary standard: aliens who committed violent or dangerous crimes generally will not receive § 209(c) waivers or asylum absent extraordinary circumstances.
- Applying that standard, the Attorney General deemed Jean’s offense a violent and dangerous crime against a vulnerable victim and found no extraordinary circumstances or exceptional and extremely unusual hardship sufficient to warrant relief.
- Relief under § 209(c), asylum, and withholding was denied, leaving Jean removable.

## Legal Principles

- The 30-day period for filing an appeal to the BIA is mandatory and jurisdictional; an untimely appeal is beyond the BIA’s authority.
- The BIA’s certification authority is reserved for exceptional circumstances and cannot be used as a routine remedy for missed deadlines or other filing defects.
- For INA § 209(c) waivers, adjudicators must balance humanitarian, family-unity, and public-interest factors against the seriousness of the crime rendering the applicant inadmissible.
- For violent or dangerous crimes, discretionary relief (including § 209(c) waiver/adjustment and asylum) is presumptively unavailable absent extraordinary circumstances, such as national security or foreign policy considerations or a clear showing that denial would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship.
- Even if extraordinary circumstances are shown, the gravity of the underlying offense may still justify denial of discretionary relief.

## Conclusion

The Attorney General established a restrictive, heightened discretionary framework for refugees and asylum applicants convicted of violent or dangerous crimes, requiring extraordinary circumstances—often exceptional and extremely unusual hardship—and reinforced that BIA deadlines are jurisdictional with certification available only in truly exceptional cases.


Matter of Jean, 23 I. & N. Dec. 373 (Att’y Gen. 2002)