PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ____________ No. 19-1311 ____________ JOSE SANTOS SANCHEZ; SONIA GONZALEZ v. SECRETARY UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DIRECTOR UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES; DIRECTOR UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER; DISTRICT DIRECTOR UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES NEWARK, Appellants ____________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. No. 1-16-cv-00651) District Judge: Honorable Robert B. Kugler ____________ Argued January 15, 2020 Before: HARDIMAN, PORTER, and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges. (Filed: July 22, 2020) Craig Carpenito, United States Attorney Christopher Amore Office of United States Attorney 970 Broad Street, Rm 700 Newark, NJ 07102 Matthew J. Glover [Argued] Scott G. Stewart United States Department of Justice Civil Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20530 Attorneys for Appellants Jaime W. Aparisi [Argued] Aparisi Law 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 925 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Michael J. DeBenedictis Debenedictis & Debenedictis 20 Brace Road, Suite 350 Cherry Hill, NJ 08034 Attorneys for Appellees Mary A. Kenney [Argued] National Immigration Litigation Alliance 10 Griggs Terrace 2 Brookline, MA 02446 Kristin A. Macleod-Ball American Immigration Council 1318 Beacon St., Suite 18 Brookline, MA 02446 Attorneys for Amicus Appellee ____________ OPINION OF THE COURT ____________ HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge. This appeal presents a question of statutory interpretation involving adjacent subsections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq.: Does the conferral of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under § 1254a constitute an “admission” into the United States under § 1255? We hold it does not. I Jose Sanchez and Sonia Gonzalez (Plaintiffs or Appellees) are husband and wife and citizens of El Salvador. They entered the United States without inspection or admission in 1997 and again in 1998. Following a series of earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001, Plaintiffs applied for and received TPS. Over the next several years, the Attorney General1 periodically 1 Although §§ 1254a and 1255 reference the Attorney General’s authority and discretion in managing the TPS 3 extended TPS eligibility for El Salvadoran nationals, which enabled Plaintiffs to remain in the United States. In 2014, Plaintiffs applied to become lawful permanent residents under § 1255. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denied their applications, explaining that Sanchez was “statutorily ineligible” for adjustment of status because he had not been admitted into the United States. And USCIS denied Gonzalez’s application because it depended on the success of Sanchez’s application. Plaintiffs challenged that decision in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, arguing Sanchez was “admitted” into the United States when he received TPS. Sanchez v. Johnson, 2018 WL 6427894, at *4 (D.N.J. 2018). The District Court granted Plaintiffs summary judgment, holding a grant of TPS meets § 1255(a)’s requirement that an alien must be “inspected and admitted or paroled” to be eligible for adjustment of status. Id. at *5–6. The Court reasoned that being considered in “lawful status” is “wholly consistent with being ...
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