CA7 on 'Sought to Acquire,' Retroactivity: Velasquez-Garcia v. Holder

"Although we find the Board’s new interpretation of the Act’s ambiguous language to be reasonable, we conclude that retroactive application of the new one-year filing rule works a manifest injustice in Velásquez’s case. We therefore remand to the Board for redetermination under the statutory interpretation in effect prior to the O. Vasquez decision. ... Because retroactive application of the O. Vasquez rule on Velásquez is manifestly unjust, we GRANT the petition for review and REMAND to the Board for determination whether Velásquez took “substantial steps” to acquire permanent status within one year of his eligibility, as as provided by the standard in effect prior to O. Vasquez." - Velasquez-Garcia v. Holder, July 23, 2014.  [Hats off to Khalil J. Khalil and Mary Kenney!]