LINDA CABELLO GARCIA V. USCIS, ET AL
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Linda Cabello Garcia’s suit challenging USCIS’s denial of her U-visa–based adjustment of status for failure to submit a medical form. Relying on Patel and distinguishing its own earlier decision in Nakka, the panel held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) strips district courts of jurisdiction once an individual denial has issued, channeling any review to the removal-proceeding petition-for-review route, and rejected constitutional objections.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) bars district-court jurisdiction over collateral (generally applicable) challenges to USCIS policies governing discretionary adjustment-of-status decisions under 8 U.S.C. § 1255.
Circuit Positions
§ 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) eliminates district-court jurisdiction for all challenges (individual or collateral) to USCIS discretionary adjustment-of-status decisions; review is available only through petitions for review after removal orders.
§ 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) bars review of individual denials but allows district-court jurisdiction over collateral challenges to generally applicable USCIS policies.
Conflict Summary
The Ninth Circuit (under Nakka) holds that § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) strips jurisdiction only over individual application denials and permits district courts to hear collateral attacks on generally applicable USCIS policies, whereas the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits (and the D.C. Circuit, though not numbered here) read the statute to bar any district-court review—including collateral policy challenges—of USCIS adjustment-of-status determinations, channeling all review to the petition-for-review process.