Santos-Zacaria v. Garland

Leon Santos-Zacaria, a transgender woman from Guatemala, sought withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture, alleging severe persecution. An immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals denied her claims. She petitioned the Fifth Circuit, which dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because she had not filed a motion to reconsider with the BIA. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Kagan, held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1)'s exhaustion requirement is not jurisdictional but a claim-processing rule subject to waiver or forfeiture. The Court reversed and remanded, allowing her appeal to proceed.

The Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit and remanded, holding that the exhaustion requirement is a non-jurisdictional claim-processing rule that can be waived or forfeited.

Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1)'s exhaustion requirement is jurisdictional and bars judicial review when a noncitizen fails to file a motion to reconsider with the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The decision strengthened judicial review rights for immigrants by preventing lower courts from treating procedural exhaustion as an absolute jurisdictional bar, and clarified the distinction between jurisdictional and claim-processing rules in federal litigation.