Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/289

 502us1$12J 02-08-99 07:35:29 PAGES OPINPGT

Cite as: 502 U. S. 129 (1991)

131

Opinion of the Court

Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner Rafeh-Rafie Ardestani prevailed in an administrative deportation proceeding brought by respondent Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). She sought attorney’s fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 5 U. S. C. § 504 and 28 U. S. C. § 2412, which provides that prevailing parties in certain adversarial proceedings may recover attorney’s fees from the Government. We now consider whether the EAJA authorizes the award of attorney’s fees and costs for administrative deportation proceedings before the INS. We conclude that it does not. I Ardestani is an Iranian woman of the Bahai faith who entered the United States as a visitor in December 1982. She remained in this country lawfully until the end of May 1984 and then sought asylum. The United States Department of State informed the INS that Ardestani’s fear of persecution upon return to Iran was well founded. In February 1986, however, the INS denied Ardestani’s asylum application on the ground that, before entering the United States, she had reached a “safe haven” in Luxembourg and had established residence there. Ardestani advised the INS that she had been in Luxembourg only three days en route to the United States, that she had stayed in a hotel, and that she had never applied for residency in that country. Nonetheless, the following month, the INS issued an order to show cause why she should not be deported. At the deportation hearing, Ardestani successfully renewed her application for asylum. She then applied for attorney’s fees and costs under the EAJA. The Immigration Judge awarded attorney’s fees in the amount of $1,071.85 based on his determination that Ardestani was the “prevailing party” in the adjudication and that the position of the INS in pursuing her deportation was not “substantially justified.” The INS appealed the award of fees to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board vacated and denied the