Case: 19-30646 Document: 00515614438 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/23/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED October 23, 2020 No. 19-30646 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Josue Benavides Nolasco, Plaintiff—Appellant, versus Stanley Crockett, Field Office Director, New Orleans Field Office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Defendants—Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana USDC No. 2:18-CV-7101 ON PETITION FOR PANEL REHEARING Before Jolly, Jones, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges. E. Grady Jolly, Circuit Judge: The petition for panel rehearing is hereby GRANTED. Since the prior opinion issued, the Supreme Court decided Nasrallah v. Barr, 140 S. Ct. 1683 (2020), which clarified the meaning of the statutory term “final order of removal.” Without expressing an opinion as to whether Nasrallah may have partially abrogated portions of Cardoso v. Reno, 216 F.3d Case: 19-30646 Document: 00515614438 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/23/2020 No. 19-30646 512 (5th Cir. 2000), the opinion we earlier relied on, we have chosen not to base our decision on Cardoso. Just last year, in Melendez v. McAleenan, 928 F.3d 425 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 561 (2019), this court decided a case both factually and procedurally reflective of the case at bar. We find Melendez the guiding precedent to decide this appeal. Accordingly, we WITHDRAW the court’s prior opinion of May 6, 2020, and the following opinion is substituted therefor. OPINION Josue Benavides Nolasco seeks review of USCIS’s legal determination declaring him ineligible for adjustment to permanent status. Although he has been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), he had entered the United States illegally, which would ordinarily bar the adjustment he seeks. He appeals the district court’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction over his claim. We reverse the district court’s holding that it lacked jurisdiction, but asserting our jurisdiction over his claim, hold that his claim has no merit. We therefore dismiss the complaint with prejudice. I. Appellant Josue Benavides Nolasco is a national and citizen of El Salvador. In 1997, he entered the United States unlawfully. But in 2002, the government granted him TPS, which means, among other things, that he is legally entitled to live and work in the United States until his TPS is withdrawn. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a. In 2014, Nolasco sought to have his status adjusted to become a permanent resident. Because he had entered the country illegally, Nolasco’s request was denied; the government determined that he had not been “inspected and admitted or paroled” into the United States as required for the adjustment he seeks. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a). 2 Case: 19-30646 Document: 00515614438 Page: 3 Date Filed: 10/23/2020 No. 19-30646 Nolasco argues that the government’s grant of TPS served to inspect and admit or parole him into the United States, rendering his illegal entry irrelevant. Indeed, this proposition is not unfounded, as it is the law in several other circuits. 1 Seeking to challenge the government’s legal interpretation—not the ...
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