Opinion ID: 795173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jurisdiction over the 2001 Reinstatement

Text: 10 We must next address the government's contention that we lack jurisdiction to review Charleswell's effort to collaterally challenge the 2001 Reinstatement order. The government points to Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 242(a)-(b), 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)-(b) (2002) as the authority to which we should look in determining whether we possess jurisdiction over the 2001 Reinstatement order. Section 242(a)-(b) of the INA grants the courts of appeals subject matter jurisdiction over final orders of removal. And although a reinstatement order is not literally an `order of removal' because it merely reinstates a previously issued order of removal or deportation[] we consider it a final order of the INS and it therefore falls within section 242's jurisdictional grant. Ojeda-Terrazas, 290 F.3d 292, 295 (5th Cir.2002) (A fair interpretation of § 242 grants this court the authority to review the lawfulness of the reinstatement order.). Thus, according to the government, because the 2001 Reinstatement was effectuated in Maryland, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is the only court that has jurisdiction over the 2001 Reinstatement order. Again, we disagree. 11 In Ojeda-Torrazas, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit addressed the jurisdictional grant in the context of a direct appeal from the alien's reinstatement order. There, the INS apprehended the alien after he had already been deported and served him with a Notice of Intent to reinstate the original deportation order. From that Notice of Intent, the alien filed a petition for review directly to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the proper court of appeal in which to contest the lawfulness of his reinstatement order. We agree with the government that if Charleswell had directly appealed the 2001 Reinstatement order, section 242(a)-(b) would control and we would not possess subject matter jurisdiction because the reinstatement order was issued in Maryland, outside of our jurisdictional control. 12 Here, however, Charleswell is not directly appealing the 2001 Reinstatement order, but is instead attempting to collaterally attack it. Because this is not a direct appeal, section 242(a)-(b) is inapplicable. Where, as here, a criminal prosecution is based upon an underlying deportation order, an alien may attempt to collaterally challenge that order in the court in which the prosecution takes place. Torres, 383 F.3d at 97 (assuming jurisdiction to review the sufficiency of a collateral challenge to a removal order constituting an element of a conviction for illegal reentry.); see Mendoza-Lopez, 481 U.S. at 839, 107 S.Ct. 2148 ([A] collateral challenge to the use of a deportation proceeding as an element of a criminal offense must be permitted where the deportation proceeding effectively eliminates the right of the alien to obtain judicial review.). Consequently, we have subject matter jurisdiction to assess the sufficiency of Charleswell's attempted collateral attack because we have jurisdiction over the District Court for the United States Virgin Islands. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 13