Ramirez De Aguirre v. Gonzales
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Virginia Ramirez de Aguirre, a native and citizen of Mexico, appeals from the district court’s denial of her 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition for habeas corpus challenging her order of removal. Ramirez de Aguirre’s appeal before this court was pending on May 11, 2005, the date of enactment of the REAL ID Act, Pub.L. No. 109-13,119 Stat. 231, 310, Div. B, § 106(a), which made circuit courts the sole judicial body with jurisdiction to review challenges to orders of removal. Accordingly, we treat the instant appeal as a timely-filed petition for review. See Alvarez-Barajas v. Gonzales, 418 F.3d 1050, 1053 (9th Cir.2005).
The Immigration Judge (“U”) properly concluded that the doctrine of equitable estoppel does not bar the Department of Homeland Security from pursuing Ramirez de Aguirre’s removal. 1 Equitable estoppel cannot serve as the basis for relief in this case because Ramirez de Aguirre has alleged no facts indicating that the government engaged in “affirmative misconduct” going beyond mere negligence when it erroneously granted her application for lawful permanent resident status. See Socop-Gonzalez v. INS, 272 F.3d 1176, 1184 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc).