NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 16-4255

___________

JOSE ALFONSO UGARTE,

a/k/a/ JOSE MENDOZA,

 Petitioner

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

 Respondent

____________________________________

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

(Agency No. A041-495-108)

Immigration Judge: Honorable Daniel A. Morris

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

June 1, 2017

Before: AMBRO, KRAUSE and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: June 5, 2017)

___________

OPINION*

___________

PER CURIAM

 

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not 

constitute binding precedent.
2

Jose Alfonso Ugarte petitions for review of his final order of removal. We will 

deny the petition.

I.

Ugarte is a citizen of Peru who entered the United States in 1989 as a lawful 

permanent resident. The Government previously placed him in removal proceedings, and 

an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) granted him cancellation of removal. That grant of 

cancellation rendered Ugarte statutorily ineligible to be granted cancellation again. See 8 

U.S.C. § 1229b(c)(6); Taveras v. Att’y Gen., 731 F.3d 281, 283 n.2 (3d Cir. 2013). 

In December 2015, the Government placed Ugarte in his present removal 

proceedings by serving him with a notice to appear. The notice charged Ugarte with 

removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii) for having been convicted of two crimes 

involving moral turpitude. The notice listed 14 New Jersey shoplifting-related 

convictions, including two convictions following Ugarte’s grant of cancellation. 

Ugarte appeared pro se at five hearings before three different IJs. At the second 

hearing, IJ Alan A. Vomacka advised Ugarte that he might be eligible for cancellation 

and asylum and then adjourned the hearing so that Ugarte could apply for relief. IJ 

Vomacka apparently was unaware of Ugarte’s previous grant of cancellation.1 Ugarte 

later filed an application for cancellation but not for asylum. At Ugarte’s final hearing

 

1

IJ Vomacka noted that Ugarte appeared to satisfy the requirements of 8 U.S.C. 

§ 1229b(a), and the Government’s counsel agreed. (A.R. 216.) The Government’s 

counsel did not inform the IJ of Ugarte’s previous grant of cancellation at that time.
3

before a different IJ, the Government finally informed the IJ of Ugarte’s previous grant of 

cancellation. The Government entered into evidence the previous order granting Ugarte 

cancellation under the same alien registration number (A.R. 259), and Ugarte admitted 

having been granted cancellation before (A.R. 252). The IJ denied Ugarte’s application 

for that reason. The IJ also found him removable and ordered his removal to Peru.

Ugarte appealed pro se to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). In his 

notice of appeal, he asserted merely that he was “in disagreement” with the IJ’s decision 

but did not raise any argument. (A.R. 191.) Ugarte also submitted a “personal 

statement” (A.R. 15-16), and a letter to the BIA (A.R. 26). Ugarte acknowledged the 

basis for the IJ’s ruling in his letter, but he did not raise any argument in that regard. 

Instead, he argued that cancellation was warranted on the merits because his convictions 

were related to physical and psychological problems and drug and alcohol abuse. He also 

submitted new evidence in the form of medical records. 

The BIA dismissed Ugarte’s appeal because it agreed with the IJ that Ugarte was 

statutorily ineligible for a second grant of cancellation. The BIA also declined to remand 

for consideration of Ugarte’s new evidence because it was not relevant in light of his 

ineligibility for relief. Ugarte petitions for review, and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 

U.S.C. § 1252(a) except as noted below.

II.
4

Ugarte’s sole argument on review is that, if IJ Vomacka had not advised him that 

he might be eligible for cancellation, he would have applied for some other form of relief. 

Ugarte does not specify any other form of relief that he would or could have sought or the 

basis for such relief, and our review does not suggest any form of relief that might have 

been available before the IJ.2

In any event, we lack jurisdiction to review this issue because Ugarte did not 

exhaust it by raising it before the BIA and the BIA did not raise it sua sponte. See 8 

U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1); Lin v. Att’y Gen., 543 F.3d 114, 120, 123-24 (3d Cir. 2008). Our

exhaustion policy is liberal, particularly for pro se litigants, and petitioners need only 

make “some effort . . . to place the Board on notice of a straightforward issue being raised

on appeal.” Higgs v. Att’y Gen., 655 F.3d 333, 338 (3d Cir. 2011) (quoting Lin, 543 

F.3d at 120). But however liberally construed, none of Ugarte’s filings suggested that he 

sought relief on the basis of the IJ’s advice that he might be eligible for cancellation. 

To the contrary, he argued only that cancellation was warranted on the merits. 

The IJ, however, denied cancellation because Ugarte is statutorily ineligible for that relief 

as explained above. Ugarte did not challenge that ruling before the BIA, and he does not 

challenge it on review. Ugarte also has never raised any challenge to his removability. 

 

2 During Ugarte’s final hearing, he stated that he wanted to seek relief on the basis of 

physical assaults that he suffered in the United States. The IJ then questioned the 

Government’s counsel about potential forms of relief, and the Government’s counsel 

advised Ugarte that the proper way to seek relief in that regard was to apply for a “U 

visa” from United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. (A.R. 255-56.) That 

advice was correct. See Sunday v. Att’y Gen., 832 F.3d 211, 213 (3d Cir. 2016).
5

III.

For these reasons, we will deny Ugarte’s petition for review.