Immigration statutes have traditionally contained provisions that limit federal district court jurisdiction over administrative appeals and require individuals to exhaust administrative remedies before seeking judicial review of immigration claims. As in other areas of administrative law, courts have considered such provisions and determined the circumstances in which the court should waive exhaustion requirements and extend judicial review. The REAL ID Act of 2005, one of the most recent immigration statutes, requires administrative exhaustion and significantly limits judicial review of claims “arising” from immigration removal proceedings. In Aguilar v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit addressed class-wide claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a pattern and practice of violating aliens’ due process right to counsel during large scale immigration raids. The First Circuit considered whether such pattern-and-practice claims “arise” from removal proceedings, thus triggering the REAL ID Act’s provisions, and whether enforcing the provisions would foreclose the opportunity for meaningful judicial review. The court held that although framed as a pattern-and-practice action, the underlying right-to-counsel claims “arose” from removal, and that the court could enforce the REAL ID Act without foreclosing meaningful judicial review of those claims. . . .
Immigration Law—Enforcing Administrative Exhaustion Requirements for Pattern-and-Practice Claims Concerning Due Process Violations During Immigration Raids—Aguilar v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 510 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2007) (no pet. for cert.)
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42