The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a removal order against Petitioner for overstaying his permitted time in the United States under the visa waiver program. Petitioner then briefly departed the United States, and was paroled back. Subsequently, he was placed in asylum-only proceedings, and his asylum application was denied. The Court determined that Petitioner's brief departure from the United States executed the visa waiver overstay removal order, and as such, the DHS erred by placing him in asylum-only proceedings. As such, there was no final order of removal before the Court to review, as the original order had been executed, and the denial of asylum did not qualify as a final order of removal because the denial of an asylum application in asylum-only proceedings merely “finalizes” DHS’s removal order of a visa waiver program entrant.
The full text of Nicusor-Remus v. Sessions can be found here:
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2018/08/08/15-70588.pdf