Paulina Perez v. Todd Blanche
Split Score
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This score (0-100) indicates how likely this case is to be reviewed by the Supreme Court based on:
Case Summary
Disposition
Dismissed
The Eighth Circuit dismissed Paulina Sebastian-Perez’s petition for review of an immigration judge’s decision affirming an asylum officer’s negative reasonable-fear finding. The court held it lacked jurisdiction because the decision is not a final order of removal, explicitly rejecting the Third Circuit’s contrary view and aligning with the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether a court of appeals has jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 to review an immigration judge’s standalone decision affirming an asylum officer’s negative reasonable-fear determination when no final order of removal is before the court.
Circuit Positions
Courts of appeals lack jurisdiction to review standalone negative reasonable-fear determinations because they are not final orders of removal.
Courts of appeals have jurisdiction to review standalone negative reasonable-fear determinations.
Conflict Summary
The Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits hold that a negative reasonable-fear determination is not a “final order of removal,” so the courts of appeals lack jurisdiction to review it absent a petition challenging the underlying removal order. The Third Circuit, by contrast, holds that courts of appeals do possess jurisdiction to review such decisions directly.