Court Opinion

ID: 9949919
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-12 20:01:00.487054+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:34:22.743962
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-14001   Document: 30-1      Date Filed: 03/12/2024    Page: 1 of 5

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                   In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                          ____________________

                                No. 22-14001
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       OLUMIDE OGUNREMI,
                                                               Petitioner,
       versus
       U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,
                                                              Respondent.

                          ____________________

                   Petition for Review of a Decision of the
                        Board of Immigration Appeals
                          Agency No. A062-115-354
                          ____________________
USCA11 Case: 22-14001      Document: 30-1     Date Filed: 03/12/2024     Page: 2 of 5

       2                      Opinion of the Court                 22-14001

       Before NEWSOM, BRASHER, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
              Olumide Ogunremi, pro se, faces removal to Nigeria after
       being convicted of a serious crime. An immigration judge denied
       his petition for asylum and the Board of Immigration Appeals sum-
       marily dismissed his appeal. He now asks us to review the Board’s
       dismissal. Because he did not raise the core issue or his arguments
       before the Board, he did not exhaust his administrative remedies.
       So we cannot review the Board here. And even if we could, sum-
       mary dismissal was appropriate because Ogunremi did not apprise
       the Board of the specific grounds for his appeal.
                                      I.

              Over a decade ago, Ogunremi became a lawful permanent
       resident of the United States. Months after the United States
       granted him this status, he participated in a hacking and identity
       theft scheme. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire
       fraud. As a result, his status in the United States became precarious.
              The Department of Homeland Security charged Ogunremi
       with inadmissibility, since he was a noncitizen convicted of a crime
       involving moral turpitude. But Ogunremi said he feared persecu-
       tion and torture in Nigeria. So he sought asylum and related relief.
       After a hearing, an immigration judge denied all his requested relief
       and ordered that he be removed to Nigeria.
              Ogunremi filed a notice of appeal with the Board of Immi-
       gration Appeals. As his reason for the appeal, he simply said the
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       22-14001               Opinion of the Court                          3

       immigration judge erred and then summarized the immigration
       judge’s reasoning. He said that he planned to submit a separate
       written brief. He did not do so.
               The Board summarily dismissed his appeal because he iden-
       tified no alleged errors in the immigration judge’s decision. This
       petition followed.
                                      II.

              We assess de novo whether a petitioner has exhausted his
       arguments before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Amaya-
       Artunduaga v. U.S. Atty. Gen., 463 F.3d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir. 2006).
       We review the Board’s summary dismissal of an appeal for abuse
       of discretion. Esponda v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 453 F.3d 1319, 1321 (11th
       Cir. 2006).
                                      III.

              We can review a final order of removal only if, in part, “the
       alien has exhausted all administrative remedies available to the al-
       ien as of right.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1). See also Kemokai v. U.S. Att'y
       Gen., 83 F.4th 886, 891 (11th Cir. 2023)(exhaustion requirement is
       not jurisdictional but will be applied where raised). We have held
       that “[a] petitioner has not exhausted a claim unless he has both
       raised the ‘core issue’ before the [Board] and also set out any dis-
       crete arguments he relies on in support of that claim.” Jeune v. U.S.
       Att’y Gen., 810 F.3d 792, 800 (11th Cir. 2016) (citation omitted). We
       have suggested that a petitioner can identify the core issue and dis-
       crete arguments in either his briefing or his notice of appeal. See
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       4                      Opinion of the Court                 22-14001

       Esponda, 453 F.3d at 1322. But merely asserting general grounds
       that the immigration judge erred, without offering further argu-
       ment, does not satisfy this obligation. Bayro v. Reno, 142 F.3d 1377,
       1379 (11th Cir. 1998).
              On the merits, summary dismissal is appropriate when a pe-
       titioner merely asserts that an immigration judge erred, without
       identifying the alleged errors and explaining why they should be
       considered errors. See Bonne-Annee v. I.N.S., 810 F.2d 1077, 1078
       (11th Cir. 1987). “Otherwise the [Board] is left to speculate whether
       petitioner challenges erroneous findings of fact or law, or both.” Id.
               The crux of each inquiry is essentially the same: did the pe-
       titioner properly raise and explain his alleged grounds for reversal?
       In this case, the answer to both questions is “no.”
              Ogunremi did not file a brief before the Board, even though
       he said he intended to. So we are limited to a review of his notice
       of appeal. But the entirety of Ogunremi’s cleaned-up notice of ap-
       peal does not identify any alleged legal or factual errors in the im-
       migration judge’s decision:
             I believe the Immigration Judge erred in his decision
             on June 17th, 2022. He said he found my claim about
             the death of my brother somewhat credible, but he
             felt that due to my criminal conviction he would have
             to take my evidence lightly, and regardless of what
             my evidence showed, and since I was ﬁling for relief
             under the CAT (convention against torture) he made
             it seem like my felony conviction does not make me
             qualify.
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       22-14001              Opinion of the Court                       5

              Even assuming a petitioner can exhaust by filing a notice of
       appeal without a supporting brief, Ogunremi did not do so here.
       The notice of appeal is not exactly accurate. The immigration
       judge found Ogunremi credible and denied his petition on the mer-
       its, concluding that he failed to show a clear probability that he
       would face torture in Nigeria. But, more to the point, after saying
       the immigration judge erred, Ogunremi’s notice of appeal merely
       summarizes what he believes to be the immigration judge’s rea-
       soning. True, the general tenor of his summary suggests that he
       disagrees with that reasoning. But he does not actually offer any
       legal or factual basis for why the Board ought to reverse the immi-
       gration judge. What did the immigration judge do wrong? And
       why should the Board think so? The notice of appeal doesn’t say.
              A pro se petitioner needn’t do much to exhaust his argu-
       ments and prevent a summary dismissal. But, to review an immi-
       gration judge’s decision, the Board must be given enough to fairly
       comprehend a petitioner’s grounds for appeal and his arguments.
       See Bayro, 142 F.3d at 1379. It didn’t have that here.
                                     IV.

              Because Ogunremi offered only general grounds for his ap-
       peal, he did not exhaust his administrative remedies. So we cannot
       hear his petition from the Board. And even if we could, the Board
       of Immigration Appeals was within its discretion when it dismissed
       his case for the same reasons. So the petition for review is
       DENIED.