Jose Ramon Almonte v. ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-1180
JOSE RAMON ALMONTE,
Petitioner,
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration
Appeals.
Submitted: April 29, 2010 Decided: May 25, 2010
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed in part; affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam
opinion.
Jose Ramon Almonte, Petitioner Pro Se. Ada Elsie Bosque,
Yamileth G. HandUber, William Charles Peachey, Tyrone Sojourner,
Office of Immigration Litigation, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Jose Ramon Almonte filed a combined notice of appeal
from the district court order denying his motion for
reconsideration and a petition for review. The Attorney General
moves to dismiss the petition for review for lack of a final
order. Because there does not appear to be a final removal
order, we grant the motion.
We also note, in the same combined filing, Almonte did
seek to appeal from the district court order denying his second
motion for reconsideration from the order denying his “Motion To
Verify Legal Status As U.S. National of United States”. The
district court denied the motion because it found it did not
have the authority to grant the requested relief. Although not
cited by Almonte, we liberally construe his motion to verify as
being filed under 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a) (2006) because Almonte
claimed he was being denied certain rights and privileges while
incarcerated because prison officials considered him an alien
and not a United States national and transferred him to a
facility for deportable aliens.
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a), titled “Denial Of Rights And
Privileges As National”:
If any person who is within the United States claims a
right or privilege as a national of the United States
and is denied such right or privilege by any
department or independent agency, or official thereof,
upon the ground that he is not a national of the

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United States, such person may institute an action
under the provisions of section 2201 of Title 28
against the head of such department or independent
agency for a judgment declaring him to be a national
of the United States, except that no such action may
be instituted in any case if the issue of such
person’s status as a national of the United States
(1) arose by reason of, or in connection with any
removal proceeding under the provisions of this
chapter or any other act, or (2) is in issue in any
such removal proceeding. An action under this
subsection may be instituted only within five years
after the final administrative denial of such right or
privilege and shall be filed in the district court of
the United States for the district in which such
person resides or claims a residence, and jurisdiction
over such officials in such cases is conferred upon
those courts.
While the district court may not have considered its
authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a), we will affirm on reasons
that appear in the record. Because Almonte claims to be in
removal proceedings, a district court does not have jurisdiction
to consider whether he is a national for purposes of relief
under § 1503. Furthermore, Almonte filed his motion in the
wrong court as jurisdiction is vested in the court in the
district in which he resides. In addition, Almonte failed to
claim he exhausted administrative remedies with respect to his
claim for certain rights and privileges.
Accordingly, we grant the motion to dismiss the
petition for review for lack of a final order of removal. We
also affirm the district court’s order denying the motion for
reconsideration. We grant Almonte’s motion to proceed on appeal

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in forma pauperis. We dispense with oral argument because the
facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
DISMISSED IN PART;
AFFIRMED IN PART

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