The Ninth Circuit has determined that under SAW, an alien who was inadmissible at the time of his adjustment to temporary resident status because of disqualifying convictions may be removed after his automatic adjustment to permanent resident status, despite the Attorney General never having initiated termination proceedings while the alien was a temporary resident. “It is true that SAW provides specific authority for the Attorney General to terminate an alien’s temporary resident status and thereby prevent automatic adjustment to permanent resident status under SAW. But neither the SAW statutory provisions nor implementing regulations suggest, much less mandate, that these provisions are the exclusive means by which the government may remove an alien on the ground that he was inadmissible at the time he adjusted to temporary resident status under SAW.”
The Court distinguished the case from its decision in Perez-Enriquez v. Gonzales. “While Perez Enriquez sustained his convictions after adjusting to temporary resident status under SAW, Hernandez Flores was convicted of his drug offenses before acquiring such status.”
The full text of Hernandez Flores v. Rosen can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/12/30/17-72888.pdf