This ground of deportability[1144] contains an explicit effective date provision: The conviction must occur after September 30, 1996 (the effective date of IIRAIRA) to trigger deportability under this ground.[1145]  Note that it is the conviction (rather than the commission of the offense) that must occur after that date for the listed criminal convictions to trigger deportation.  (Compare the domestic violence TRO deportation ground, in which it is the violation, rather than the court finding, that must occur after the same effective date to trigger deportation.  See § 7.164, infra.)

[1144] INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i).

[1145] Under INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), a noncitizen may be found deportable upon conviction of various offenses of domestic violence and against children, as well as for a civil violation of a domestic violence protective order.  This statute, which was added to the INA by IIRAIRA § 350(a), applies only to “convictions, or violations of court orders, occurring after the date” of enactment, i.e., September 30, 1996.

BIA

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - EFFECTIVE DATE
Matter of Gonzalez-Silva, 24 I.& N. Dec. 218, 220 (BIA 2007) (conviction occurring prior to the effective date of INA 237(a)(2)(E), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(E) (2000), is not "convicted of an offense under" that section and therefore is not barred from establishing eligibility for cancellation of removal by INA 240A(b)(1)(C), 8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)(1)(C)(2000).). http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol24/3570.pdf

Ninth Circuit

RELIEF - NON-LPR CANCELLATION - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CONVICTION DID NOT BAR CANCELLATION BECAUSE COMMITTED PRIOR TO EFFECTIVE DATE OF DEPORTATION GROUND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - EFFECTIVE DATE
Mota v. Mukasey, 543 F.3d 1165 (9th Cir.Sept. 17, 2008) (domestic violence conviction does not bar non-LPR cancellation of removal under INA 240A(b)(1)(B), since the conviction occurred prior to Sept. 30, 1996, the effective date of the domestic violence ground of removal).