Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

(B)

Inadmissibility.  It is unclear whether a pardon also eliminates a conviction of a crime of moral turpitude for inadmissibility purposes.[158]  The 1977 presidential pardon for violations of the Military Selective Service Act specifically applies to eliminate the commission of such violations as grounds of inadmissibility.[159]  This statute was cited in Matter of Rahman,[160] regarding President Ford's pardon of Vietnam era draft resisters, particularly Lawful Permanent Residents who returned to the United States from abroad on or before June 1, 1978.

[158] Aguilera-Montero v. Mukasey, 548 F.3d 1248, 1252 (9th Cir. Dec. 1, 2008) (denial of adjustment of status is affirmed where petitioner is inadmissible and no statutory basis exists to waive inadmissibility, since neither a state pardon nor an equal protection claim could overcome the fact that Congress has expressly declined to provide a waiver for an inadmissible alien convicted of a crime relating to a controlled substance: "We have not extensively addressed the dichotomy between inadmissible and deportable aliens in the context of a state pardon. However, the Eleventh Circuit explicitly explored this issue at length in Balogun v. United States Attorney General, 425 F.3d 1356, 1358 (11th Cir. 2005), where the petitioner asserted that his “full and unconditional” state pardon entitled him to waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(v). ... We agree with the Eleventh Circuit that the basic tenets of statutory construction preclude us from inferring a waiver under the provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a).").  But see Rasmussen v. Robinson, 163 F.2d 732 (3d Cir. 1947)(pardon eliminates inadmissibility); accord, Matter of H, 6 I. & N. Dec. 90 (BIA 1954); Matter of EV, 5 I. & N. Dec. 194 (BIA 1953).

[159] Implementation of Presidential Proclamation No. 4483 and Executive Order No. 11967 (both effective Jan. 21, 1977), 42 Fed. Reg. 59562 (Nov. 18, 1977).

[160] Matter of Rahman, 16 I. & N. Dec. 579 (BIA 1978).