Martina Serrano Vazquez v. Merrick Garland

DISCUSSION

2 A. Exhaustion

Petitioner argues that, under Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018), her

NTA is invalid because it does not specify the date and time of the proceeding in

accordance with 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a). Accordingly, she argues that the immigration

court lacks subject matter and personal jurisdiction. Not having been raised before

the BIA, this issue is unexhausted. According to Petitioner, she was not required

to exhaust this issue because the Supreme Court’s decision in Pereira was not

released until after her briefing before the BIA. This is incorrect: Petitioner filed

her brief before the BIA on February 21, 2019, and the Court decided Pereira on

June 21, 2018. Petitioner’s failure to exhaust thus bars our review, and we must

dismiss this claim. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 676–78 (9th Cir. 2004).

B. Asylum and Withholding of Removal

Petitioner challenges the denial of her asylum and withholding of removal

claims at large, but she does not address the agency’s finding that she lacked a

well-founded fear of future persecution because of changed circumstances.

Petitioner only mentions changed circumstances when reciting the legal…