Opinion ID: 21687
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Aurora Moran

Text: Unlike Martinez and Cardoso, Aurora Moran has never faced a removal order. Although Moran contends that she fears deportation because the INS denied her request for an adjustment of status, she does not allege that the Attorney General has initiated removal proceedings. Moran seeks nothing more than review of the immigration judge’s denial of her request for adjustment of status. As a matter of jurisdiction, courts may not review the 13 administrative decisions of the INS unless the appellant has first exhausted “all administrative remedies.” I.N.A. 242(d), 8 U.S.C. 1252(d)(1999). In this case, although Moran may not directly appeal the immigration judge’s denial of her request for adjustment of status, she may, nevertheless, renew her request upon the commencement of removal proceedings. See 8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(5)(ii)(1999)(“No appeal lies from the denial of an application by the director, but the applicant, if not an arriving alien, retains the right to renew his or her application in [removal] proceedings.”); Austin T. Fragomen, Jr. et al., Immigration Procedures Handbook 13-91 (1999)(“There is no direct appeal from [an adjustment of status] denial. . . . If the alien believes that the adjustment application was wrongly denied, he or she has the right to reapply for adjustment of status as a part of deportation proceedings brought against him or her by the INS. The alien has a right to appeal the denial of an adjustment application when ... made during a removal proceeding.”) As such, Moran has not yet exhausted her administrative remedies and this Court may not exercise jurisdiction. Accord McBrearty v. Perryman, 2000 WL 568337,  (7th Cir. May 11, 2000)(holding that plaintiff had failed to exhaust remedies on adjustment of status claim where “they could obtain review of the district director’s decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals if and when the immigration service institutes removal . . . proceedings against them”); Randall v. Meese, 854 F.2d 14 472, 482 (D.C. Cir. 1988)(declining to review denial of adjustment of status where deportation proceedings had not commenced); Chan v. Reno, 916 F.Supp. 1289, 1297-99 (S.D. N.Y. 1996)(holding that exhaustion of administrative remedies doctrine precludes plaintiffs from seeking judicial review where they have not been subjected to deportation proceedings).