Opinion ID: 213921
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ramos-Torres's Voluntary Departure Was Under Threat of Deportation

Text: When we review a final order of removal, a constitutional claim or question of law may be reviewed only if `the alien has exhausted all administrative remedies available to the alien as of right.' Failure to exhaust is a jurisdictional bar. [6] Petitioners fail to exhaust their administrative remedies as to an issue if they do not first raise the issue before the BIA, either on direct appeal or in a motion to reopen. [7] Ramos-Torres asserts on appeal that [t]he conclusions of the IJ and the BIA that [he] departed `under threat of deportation' [are] not supported by the record. The government counters that we lack[] jurisdiction to consider Ramos's argument that he did not accept voluntary departure under threat of being placed in deportation proceedings because Ramos did not exhaust this argument before the agency. Alternatively, the government contends that Ramos-Torres's argument is without merit in light of record evidence that supports the finding that his voluntary departure was under threat of deportation. In Ramos-Torres's brief to the BIA, he only argued that a voluntary departure is distinct from a departure under an order of deportation. At no time did he contest the IJ's conclusion that he was voluntarily returned to Mexico in lieu of deportation. The BIA, in turn, determined that [t]he findings of fact which are fully set forth in the Immigration Judge's decision are not clearly erroneous. The issue before us involves the respondent's 1982 voluntary return to Mexico under a threat of deportation.... To the extent that the question whether Ramos-Torres's voluntary departure was in lieu of deportation requires a factual determination that was made by the IJ and confirmed by the BIA, we have no jurisdiction to review it. [8] To the extent that this question presents an issue of law, Ramos-Torres did indeed fail to exhaust his administrative remedies by not first raising it before the BIA. We therefore have no jurisdiction to review it and must accept that Ramos-Torres voluntarily departed the United States in 1982 under threat of deportation.