Opinion ID: 1910
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: This court’s jurisdiction over a petition for review of a removal order is limited to “a final order of removal.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1). Congress has provided two contingencies by which a removal order can become final—when either (1) the Board affirms an order determining that an alien is removable or (2) upon “the expiration of the period in which the alien is permitted to seek review of such order by the Board,” whichever is earlier. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(47)(B). Both contingencies depend upon the availability of BIA review, but a FARO is not appealable to the BIA—review lies only with the courts of appeals. See 8 U.S.C. § 1228(b)(3) (“The Attorney General may not execute [a FARO] until 14 calendar days have passed from the date that such order was issued, unless waived by the alien, in order that the alien has an opportunity to apply for judicial review under section 1252 of this title.”); id. § 1252(a)(1), (a)(5) (final orders of removal are appealable to courts of appeals). Because there is no opportunity for BIA review, neither of the contingencies in § 1101(a)(47)(B) can occur. Thus, the statutory definition of finality provides no helpful guidance in determining whether the pursuit of administrative relief from removal via a reasonable-fear proceeding renders a FARO nonfinal until the administrative proceedings have concluded. Indeed, respondent concedes that had petitioner not sought further administrative remedies in the form of restriction on removal and CAT relief, the FARO would have been final and appealable directly -7- to this court at the time it was issued. See Resp. Br. at 19 & n.7. Thus, there is nothing inherently nonfinal about the FARO itself, and its title (“Final Administrative Removal Order”) suggests finality. Nevertheless, respondent argues that the FARO was not final because, under 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.5(a) and 1003.6(a), it could not have been executed while petitioner’s restriction and CAT claims remained the subject of administrative proceedings. Respondent also contends that completion of the administrative proceedings did not cure the FARO’s nonfinality because the petition for review was a nullity at the time it was filed. Instead, respondent maintains, the FARO became final only when petitioner waived BIA review of the IJ’s adverse decision on his claims for relief from removal (sometime between December 7 and 10, 2009), and this court lacks jurisdiction because petitioner failed to file a timely petition for review thereafter. It appears that no court has ruled on the precise issue presented here: whether a FARO is rendered nonfinal by an alien’s election to pursue relief from the FARO through the reasonable-fear process of 8 C.F.R. § 238.1. We need not decide the matter today. Even if the FARO was not final when issued due to petitioner’s election to pursue further administrative relief under § 238.1, we conclude that completion of the administrative proceedings cured any jurisdictional defect in the petition for review that might be due to prematurity. First, the relevant statutory provision, 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1), is titled “Deadline” -8- and reads in its entirety: “The petition for review must be filed not later than 30 days after the date of the final order of removal.” This provision sets a filing deadline 30 days after a final removal order is entered, compliance with which is “mandatory and jurisdictional.” Nahatchevska v. Ashcroft, 317 F.3d 1226, 1227 (10th Cir. 2003) (quotation omitted). But the provision is silent with respect to petitions for review filed before the issuance of a final order of removal. While the ordinary course would be to await a final removal order in order to more precisely challenge it, § 1252(b)(1), by its plain terms, does not erect a jurisdictional bar to a petition filed prior to the date of the final order of removal; it speaks only to late-filed petitions. Second, the parties have not pointed us to, nor have we found, any cases that have considered whether a petition for review of a FARO, filed after a FARO issues but while an alien remains in the reasonable-fear process, ripens upon completion of the reasonable-fear process. 3 The cases identified by respondent 3 The Seventh Circuit addressed a related issue in Eke v. Mukasey, 512 F.3d 372 (7th Cir. 2008). In Eke, the petitioner filed a petition for review after the conclusion of the reasonable-fear process, which was more than thirty days after the FARO issued. The court concluded, with little analysis, that it had jurisdiction to review the FARO despite the fact that the petition was untimely with regard to it because the agency was not yet through with petitioner’s claims. Id. at 377-78. As we read Eke, the case does not stand for the broad proposition respondent reads into it, that the proper procedure for petitioning for review of a FARO is to await conclusion of the reasonable-fear process, at which time the FARO becomes final along with any decision on an alien’s claims for relief from removal. Therefore, Eke sheds little light on the question presented here. -9- have considered whether a “premature” petition for review can ripen in non-FARO circumstances, and the circuits have reached different conclusions. In Lewis v. Gonzales, 481 F.3d 125, 128-29 (2d Cir. 2007), the Second Circuit considered its jurisdiction over a petition for review that was filed after an IJ had issued a removal order but before the BIA had ruled on a pending appeal from that order. The court held that it had jurisdiction over such “otherwise premature petitions, notwithstanding the lack of a later-filed, timely petition, when ‘the BIA has since affirmed petitioner’s removal order and the respondent has not shown prejudice.’” Id. at 129 (quoting Foster v. INS, 376 F.3d 75, 77 (2d Cir. 2004)). The court explained that regardless of whether the premature petition was considered to incorporate the later-filed final order, or whether the court granted the petitioner’s motion to amend the filing date of this petition, the result was the same: the court had jurisdiction. Id. Three other cases respondent identifies fall on the other side of the fence. In Moreira v. Mukasey, 509 F.3d 709, 712-14 (5th Cir. 2007), the Fifth Circuit considered Lewis but held that a petition filed while an alien’s appeal of an IJ’s removal order was pending before the BIA was premature and did not ripen upon the BIA’s dismissal of the appeal. In Jaber v. Gonzales, 486 F.3d 223, 228-29 (6th Cir. 2007), the Sixth Circuit reached the same conclusion with respect to a petition for review filed while an appeal of an IJ’s denial of a motion to reopen was pending before the BIA, which ultimately denied the appeal. And in Brion v. -10- INS, 51 F. App’x 732, 733 (9th Cir. 2002), the Ninth Circuit concluded it lacked jurisdiction over a petition for review of a BIA order reversing an IJ’s grant of suspension of removal and remanding to an IJ for further proceedings. The court reasoned that “a premature petition is a nullity because there is no final deportation order to review,” and explained that “the fact that the BIA ultimately issued a final order of deportation,” which was apparently in the form of an answer to a question the IJ certified to the Board, does not “cure a petition that was filed prematurely.” Id. & n.1 (quotation omitted). 4 The common, material feature these four cases share is that, at the time the petition for review was filed, the matter was subject to further administrative review by either the Board (Lewis, Moreira, and Jaber) or both an IJ and the Board (Brion). In contrast here, a FARO is not subject to IJ or BIA review. Moreover, petitioner has not conceded removability. In light of these facts, 4 Respondent also relies on two other cases in which courts concluded that jurisdiction was lacking where the BIA reversed an IJ decision and remanded for further consideration. See Mahecha-Granados v. Holder, 324 F. App’x 735, 738 (10th Cir. 2009) (applying the administrative-remand doctrine and refusing to “engage in piecemeal review” of the BIA’s reversal of an asylum decision while the IJ had before him claims seeking “other impediments” to removal); Chupina v. Holder, 570 F.3d 99, 103 (2d Cir. 2009) (declining to exercise jurisdiction over BIA order that reversed grant of asylum and remanded for consideration of claims for relief from removal because BIA decision was not final within meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(47)(B)(i)). Here, administrative remand is not implicated—neither the IJ nor the BIA have authority to revisit the FARO during the reasonable-fear proceeding—and as stated above, a FARO is not amenable to the statutory definitions of finality set out in § 1101(a)(47)(B). We therefore view these cases as unhelpful. -11- combined with the lack of any statutory prohibition against filing a petition for review prior to the entry of a final order of removal, we will adapt the Second Circuit’s reasoning in Lewis and hold that a petition for review filed after a FARO has issued but before an alien has completed the reasonable-fear process ripens upon completion of that process, provided the government has shown no prejudice arising from the timing of the petition. In this case, respondent has shown no prejudice, so we take jurisdiction. We reiterate that our analysis is based on an assumption that the FARO was not final when issued because petitioner elected to pursue further administrative relief in the reasonable-fear process. And we explicitly leave open the question whether a “premature” petition in other removal contexts ripens once administrative remedies are exhausted.