Immigration – Removal

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Felix D. Guzman-Rivadeneira v. Loretta E. Lynch

Case No.: 14-3734

Officials: KANNE, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Immigration – Removal

Procedural errors preclude analysis of legal claims.

“As our account of the procedural history shows, Guzman-Rivadeneira did not present this argument to the Board. He mentioned to the Board that former counsel’s performance was “inadequate,” but he did not cite Velasquez or argue that he should be relieved of counsel’s concessions because of “egregious circumstances,” much less outline what those egregious circumstances might have been. He tried instead to persuade the Board to treat the issue as a pure issue of law, regardless of the earlier procedural failures. A petitioner’s failure to exhaust an argument in administrative proceedings generally bars him from raising it before a court of appeals. See Duarte-Salagosa v. Holder, 775 F.3d 841, 846 (7th Cir. 2014) (petitioner must have asked Board to consider “same arguments” presented to court, not another argument based on the same evidence); El-Gazawy v. Holder, 690 F.3d 852, 858–59 (7th Cir. 2012) (argument must be presented to Board with enough specificity to allow Board to apply its specialized knowledge and provide reasoning for court to review).”

Petition to Review Denied

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.