Gonzalez-Alarcon v. Macias, 884 F.3d 1266 (10th Cir. March 19, 2018).

The district court dismissed a petition for habeas corpus filed by a man seeking release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody following ICE’s reinstatement of an order of removal.  The petitioner alleged specific facts which, if proven, demonstrated he was a U.S. citizen.  The district court concluded that the petitioner had failed to exhaust administrative remedies, and that jurisdiction was barred by the REAL ID Act.  The Tenth Circuit concluded that the exhaustion provision at issue does not govern facially valid citizenship claims, and that the REAL ID Act’s jurisdiction stripping provisions raised serious Suspension Clause concerns because the petitioner must be granted some path to advance his facially valid claim of citizenship in federal court.