Quintanilla-Benitez v. Garland ( 2023 )

Case: 22-60289 Document: 00516995067 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/08/2023
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
____________ FILED
December 8, 2023
No. 22-60289 Lyle W. Cayce
____________ Clerk
Miguel Angel Quintanilla-Benitez,
Petitioner,
versus
Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,
Respondent.
______________________________
Appeal from the Board of Immigration Appeals
Agency No. A078 550 299
______________________________
Before Jolly, Engelhardt, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
In 2000, the Department of Homeland Security ordered Miguel Angel
Quintanilla-Benitez removed to El Salvador. Quintanilla-Benitez reentered
the United States illegally, and an immigration officer reinstated his 2000 re-
moval order on October 13, 2020. After the reinstatement order, Quintanilla-
Benitez applied for withholding of removal and protection under the Con-
vention Against Torture (“CAT”). An immigration judge denied his
_____________________
*
This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-60289 Document: 00516995067 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/08/2023
No. 22-60289
application, and the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his appeal.
Quintanilla-Benitez then filed a petition for review in this court.
Our jurisdiction to review removal decisions is limited to “final
order[s] of removal.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1); see id. § 1252(b)(9). The
Supreme Court has held orders denying withholding of removal and CAT
relief are not final removal orders. See Nasrallah v. Barr, 140 S. Ct. 1683, 1691
(2020); Johnson v. Guzman Chavez, 141 S. Ct. 2271, 2288 (2021); see also
Argueta-Hernandez v. Garland, 73 F.4th 300, 302 (5th Cir. 2023). Thus, the
only proper subject of our review is DHS’s 2020 reinstatement order.
The reinstatement order became final on the day it issued—October
13, 2020—notwithstanding Quintanilla-Benitez’s application for
withholding-only and CAT relief. See Argueta-Hernandez, 73 F.4th at 303
(noting a reinstatement order is final the moment it issues); id.
(“[W]ithholding-only proceedings do not impact the finality of an order of
removal.”). Quintanilla-Benitez did not file his petition for review until May
13, 2022, well past the 30-day jurisdictional deadline in § 1252. See 8 U.S.C.
§ 1252(b)(1) (“The petition for review must be filed not later than 30 days
after the date of the final order of removal.”); see also Argueta-Hernandez, 73
F.4th at 302 (explaining the § 1252(b)(1) deadline is “mandatory and
jurisdictional”). Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to review Quintanilla-
Benitez’s petition.
* * *
For the foregoing reasons, the petition is DISMISSED for lack of
jurisdiction.
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