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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 20-13656
Non-Argument Calendar
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Agency No. A205-066-087
SENDY CHERUBIN,
Petitioner,
versus
U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
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Petition for Review of a Decision of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
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(April 23, 2021)
Before ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, and LUCK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Sendy Cherubin, a native and citizen of Haiti, petitions for review of the Board
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of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) dismissal of her appeal of the Immigration
Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her applications for asylum and withholding of removal.
Because Cherubin failed to exhaust the arguments she presents for our review, we
must dismiss her petition for lack of jurisdiction.
I.
Cherubin is a native and citizen of Haiti who entered the United States with
her minor daughter in August 2012. The government later initiated proceedings to
remove her because she lacked authorization to enter or remain in the United States.
Cherubin appeared for the initial hearing with counsel, conceded removability, and
indicated that she would be applying for asylum and withholding of removal.
Counsel later withdrew, however, and the IJ continued the removal hearing to allow
Cherubin to obtain new counsel and complete her applications for relief. Cherubin
eventually submitted her applications, and she appeared for and testified at a removal
hearing before the IJ without the assistance of counsel. Cherubin claimed that she
had been and would be persecuted in Haiti due to her husband’s political activities,
though she did not submit any evidence other than her own testimony.
The IJ issued a decision finding that Cherubin’s asylum application was
untimely, that her testimony was not credible because it diverged from statements
she made to a government agent shortly after her entry, and that she had failed to
provide any corroborating evidence despite ample opportunity to do so. The IJ
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denied her applications for relief from removal and ordered her removed to Haiti.
Cherubin filed a pro se notice of appeal to the BIA. In the designated space
on the notice-of-appeal form, she described the reasons for the appeal as “[h]aving
the time to file a written brief,” under which she wrote several bullet points: “to
review all the facts which sustain my case”; “to restate more carefully the subject of
my request for asylum”; and “to provide also as needed reliable documentation to
support my claim.” She indicated that she would be filing a written brief. She failed
to file a brief within the time set by the briefing schedule, however, and the BIA
affirmed the IJ’s decision without a separate opinion. Cherubin then filed a timely
petition for review to this Court.
II.
We review our subject-matter jurisdiction de novo. Amaya-Artunduaga v.
U.S. Att’y Gen.,
463 F.3d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir. 2006). We must inquire into subject-
matter jurisdiction sua sponte whenever it may be lacking. Chacon-Botero v. U.S.
Att’y Gen.,
427 F.3d 954, 956 (11th Cir. 2005).
We lack jurisdiction to review final orders in immigration cases unless the
petitioner has exhausted all administrative remedies available to her as of right.
8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1). To properly raise a claim before the BIA, the petitioner must
raise an issue to the BIA in a manner that permits the agency a “full opportunity” to
consider the claim and compile a record adequate for judicial review. Amaya-
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Artunduaga,
463 F.3d at 1250. To exhaust a claim, it is not enough that the petitioner
merely identified an issue before the BIA. Jeune v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
810 F.3d 792,
800 (11th Cir. 2016). She must raise the “core issue” before the BIA and set out any
discrete arguments she relies on in support of that claim.
Id. While the petitioner is
not required to “use precise legal terminology” or provide well-developed
arguments, she must “provide information sufficient to enable the BIA to review and
correct any errors below.”
Id. (quotation marks omitted). In short, the petitioner
must mention the issue and discuss its merits, or at least contest the basis for the IJ’s
decision. Alim v. Gonzales,
446 F.3d 1239, 1253 (11th Cir. 2006).
Here, Cherubin failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. On appeal, she
argues that the BIA and IJ failed both to analyze her credibility properly and to give
her an opportunity for her to provide corroborating testimony for her claim. She did
not, however, raise these issues to the BIA in a manner that would have permitted
the agency a “full opportunity” to consider the claims. See Amaya-Artunduaga,
463
F.3d at 1250. She did not file a written brief, despite indicating that she would. And
the statements that she made in her notice of appeal to the BIA merely informed the
BIA that she wanted time to obtain additional evidence, review the facts in support
of her case, and restate her claims. But she did not explain how she would be
contesting the basis of the IJ’s decision in any respect, much less the specific grounds
she raises before this Court.
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Accordingly, Cherubin did not “provide information sufficient to enable the
BIA to review and correct” the errors she asserts on appeal. See Jeune, 810 F.3d at
800. That the BIA may have considered these issues sua sponte in affirming the IJ’s
decision does not alter the exhaustion requirement or its jurisdictional consequences.
See Amaya-Artunduaga,
463 F.3d at 1250–51.
Because Cherubin failed to exhaust her administrative remedies, we must
dismiss her petition for review.
PETITION DISMISSED.
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