Luis Eduardo Sagastume-Montiel v. U.S. Attorney General

Case: 16-12028 Date Filed: 01/17/2017 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 16-12028 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A094-806-031 LUIS EDUARDO SAGASTUME-MONTIEL, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (January 17, 2017) Before HULL, WILSON and WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 16-12028 Date Filed: 01/17/2017 Page: 2 of 4 Luis Eduardo Sagastume-Montiel, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of an order affirming the denial of his application for cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the finding that Sagastume-Montiel was removable as an inadmissible alien by virtue of being an applicant for admission to the United States without a valid entry document. See id. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). Sagastume- Montiel argues that he was not an applicant for admission because he was allowed to reenter the country under an advance authorization for parole. Sagastume- Montiel also argues that, even if he was an applicant, his advance parole was a “valid entry document” that entitled him to admission to the country. We deny in part and dismiss in part Sagastume-Montiel’s petition. The Board did not err in finding that Sagastume-Montiel was an inadmissible alien. In 1998, Sagastume-Montiel entered the United States on a nonimmigrant visa, but he remained in the country without authorization and was arrested after misrepresenting that he was a U.S. citizen. After Sagastume- Montiel’s immigration proceedings were deferred, he received advance authorization for parole and left the country. Sagastume-Montiel returned to the United States as an inadmissible alien. “[A]t the time of application for admission,” Sagastume-Montiel was “not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid 2 Case: 16-12028 Date Filed: 01/17/2017 Page: 3 of 4 entry document required by this chapter, and a valid unexpired passport, or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality.” Id. Although Sagastume-Montiel was paroled into the United States, “such parole . . . [was] not . . . regarded as an admission” and it was immediately terminated, which resulted in him being “dealt with . . . as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States.” See id. § 1182(d)(5)(A); see also id. § 1101(a)(13)(B) (“An alien who is paroled under section 1182(d)(5) of this title . . . shall not be considered to have been admitted.”). Parole “allowed [Sagastume-Montiel] into the country but [he] remain[ed] constructively at the border, seeking admission and subject to exclusion proceedings.” See Assa’ad v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 332 F.3d 1321, 1338 (11th Cir. 2003); see also Leng May Ma v. Barber, 357 U.S. 185, 190 (1958) (“parole . . . is simply a device through which needless confinement is avoided while administrative proceedings are conducted” and “was never intended to affect an alien’s status”). We deny that part of Sagastume-Montiel’s petition challenging his classification as an inadmissible alien. We lack jurisdiction to review whether Sagastume-Montiel’s advance parole served as a valid entry document. That issue was not addressed during Sagastume- Montiel’s removal hearing or in his appeal to the Board. See Lin v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 555 F.3d 1310, 1316–17 n.5 (11th Cir. 2009). “We lack jurisdiction to consider a claim raised in a petition for review unless the petitioner has exhausted his 3 Case: 16-12028 Date Filed: 01/17/2017 Page: 4 of 4 administrative remedies with respect thereto.” Amaya–Artunduaga v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 463 F.3d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir. 2006). We dismiss this part of Sagastume- Montiel’s petition. PETITION DENIED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART. 4