Opinion ID: 202758
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claimed Violation by the BIA of Its Summary Affirmance Procedures

Text: 24 Feliz argues that the case should be remanded to the BIA for further review because the BIA violated its summary affirmance regulation, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(e)(4), in issuing an AWO. Feliz does not argue that the BIA's use of its AWO procedures has denied him due process of law. 4 Rather, he argues that issuance of an AWO was not appropriate in his case because the two predicate prongs of 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(e)(4) were not met. Pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(e)(4), summary affirmance is appropriate only when a Board member determines that, inter alia, (1) the result reached in the decision under review was correct; and (2) any errors in the decision under review were harmless or nonmaterial. 25 There is an initial question about whether we have jurisdiction to review Feliz's claim that the BIA violated its own AWO procedure. The circuits have split on this issue. Compare Kambolli v. Gonzales, 449 F.3d 454, 463 (2d Cir.2006) (no jurisdiction), Tsegay v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1347, 1353-58 (10th Cir.2004) (same), and Ngure v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 975, 988 (8th Cir. 2004) (same), with Smriko v. Ashcroft, 387 F.3d 279, 290-95 (3d Cir.2004) (jurisdiction), and Chong Shin Chen v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 1081, 1086-88 (9th Cir.2004) (same). In Haoud v. Ashcroft, 350 F.3d 201 (1st Cir.2003), this court held that we had jurisdiction to review the BIA's decision to employ its AWO procedures in a case involving both reviewable and non-reviewable bases for the IJ's decision when it was unclear on which basis the BIA had summarily affirmed and when the BIA may have failed to consider a precedent helpful to the petitioner. Id. at 206; see also Hoxha v. Gonzales, 446 F.3d 210, 220-21 (1st Cir.2006). We remanded so that we would have a reasoned basis on which to conduct judicial review. Haoud, 350 F.3d at 207-08. The breadth of Haoud's reach beyond its particular facts is something of an open question, see Aguilar v. Gonzales, 475 F.3d 415, 418 (1st Cir.2007); Hoxha, 446 F.3d at 220-21, and a narrow reading has been suggested by the Eighth Circuit in Ngure, 367 F.3d at 988. 26 We bypass the jurisdictional question because we have already rejected the premise of Feliz's argument—that the IJ's decision was improper. 27 The petition for review is denied.