Immigration – admissibility — terrorist designation

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Immigration – admissibility — terrorist designation

Where an alien seeking admission failed to exhaust his administrative remedies to challenge his designation as a terrorist, his petition for review must be denied.

“The exhaustion requirement is not just an empty formality; it exists in part to prevent error by appellate courts. We’ve identified the more nuanced knowledge question here in order to flag it for future cases, but we might have missed something. In any event, the issue should be addressed by the BIA in the first instance. Had Khan made this argument to the Board, it could have ‘appl[ied] its specialized knowledge and experience to the matter.’ Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). On the present record, labeling Khan a terrorist to prevent him from remaining in the United States with his American citizen wife is troubling, but we cannot ignore the exhaustion requirement, especially not for an argument raised for the first time on a petition for review from a motion to reconsider, where our deference to the BIA is at its peak.”

Petitions Denied.

13-2106 & 13-3385 Khan v. Holder

Petitions for Review of Decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Sykes, J.