Opinion ID: 1190274
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Lack of Specificity in the NTA

Text: Singh first argues that the government is bound by the precise allegations used in the NTA he received regarding his removal proceedings and that, absent an amendment to the NTA in writing, the IJ was precluded from finding that Singh was convicted of N.Y.P.L. § 120.05(1). He also argues that the lack of specificity in the NTA violated his Due Process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In response, the government argues that Singh has not exhausted his administrative remedies on these claims because he did not raise them before the BIA. If Singh has failed to exhaust all of his administrative remedies, then we lack jurisdiction to review this claim. See Karaj v. Gonzales, 462 F.3d 113, 117 (2d Cir. 2006). Although Singh's brief to the BIA mentions that the NTA was improvidently issued or at best defective or insufficient on its face, this point was part of Singh's second argument, below, that the evidence presented by the government that Singh had been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude did not rise to the level of clear and convincing. Singh's BIA brief is entirely devoid of reference to a due process violation. The reference to the NTA in his BIA brief was thus not adequate to put the BIA on notice of the impermissible amendment or due process arguments that Singh now offers. Cf. Johnson v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 164, 170 n. 7 (2d Cir.2004) (finding that where the substance of petitioner's argument was raised below, petitioner exhausted the claim). As a result, we conclude that Singh did not exhaust his administrative remedies on these claims in appealing the IJ's decision to the BIA, and we therefore lack jurisdiction to review them. See Karaj, 462 F.3d at 117. Accordingly, we dismiss this portion of Singh's petition.