Syllabus
Note: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
SANTOS-ZACARIA AKA SANTOS-SACARIAS v. GARLAND
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 21–1436. Argued January 17, 2023—Decided May 11, 2023
Petitioner Leon Santos-Zacaria (who goes by the name Estrella) is a noncitizen in removal proceedings. She sought protection from removal, which an Immigration Judge denied. Santos-Zacaria appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which upheld the Immigration Judge’s decision. She then filed a petition for review in the Fifth Circuit under 8 U. S. C. §1252, alleging that the Board had impermissibly engaged in factfinding that only the Immigration Judge could perform. The Fifth Circuit dismissed Santos-Zacaria’s petition in part, finding that she had not satisfied §1252(d)(1)’s exhaustion requirement. Section 1252(d)(1) provides that “[a] court may review a final order of removal only if … the alien has exhausted all administrative remedies available to the alien as of right.” The Fifth Circuit raised the exhaustion issue sua sponte based on its characterization of §1252(d)(1)’s exhaustion requirement as jurisdictional. And the Fifth Circuit concluded that Santos-Zacaria failed to exhaust because she failed to raise her impermissible-factfinding claim to the Board in a motion for reconsideration before filing her petition for judicial review.
Held:
1. Section 1252(d)(1)’s exhaustion requirement is not jurisdictional. Pp. 3–11.
