Case: 18-60865 Document: 00515591488 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/06/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED October 6, 2020 No. 18-60865 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Jose Ernesto Escobar, also known as Jose Escobar, also known as Jose Escobar Hernandez, Petitioner, versus William P. Barr, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of the Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A095 030 659 Before Higginbotham, Jones, and Higginson, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Petitioner Jose Ernesto Escobar, a native and citizen of El Salvador, entered the United States without authorization in 2001. He was ordered removed in absentia in 2006 after his temporary protected status (“TPS”) * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 18-60865 Document: 00515591488 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/06/2020 No. 18-60865 expired. 1 He has since filed two unsuccessful motions to reopen his removal proceedings. In 2017, an immigration judge denied his second motion to reopen, as well as his subsequent motion for reconsideration. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissed Escobar’s appeal, and he filed this petition for review in December 2018. In September 2019, after the parties had submitted their briefs, Escobar filed an advisory notifying the Court that he had been granted lawful permanent resident status. If, during the pendency of litigation, the complaining party receives the relief he originally sought to obtain in court, the action becomes moot and must be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. 2 In this case, Escobar has received even more relief than he requested: His lawful permanent resident status is a greater benefit than the TPS he sought to obtain through reopening. Nevertheless, Escobar asserts that his case falls within the limited exception to mootness for claims that are “capable of repetition yet evading review.” 3 “The capable-of-repetition doctrine applies only in exceptional situations where the following two circumstances are simultaneously 1 Temporary protected status is available to certain foreign nationals present in the United States whose home country is designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security as unsafe due to conflict, disaster, or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions . . . that prevent . . . nationals of the state from returning to the state in safety . . . .” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(1)(C). A country’s nationals are eligible for TPS only as long as that country’s official designation lasts. Id. § 1254a(b)(2)(B). In addition, each individual TPS recipient must re-register periodically. In this case, Escobar received TPS in 2001 and renewed his TPS in 2003. However, his next renewal application was denied, leaving him without legal status. 2 See Envt’l Conservation Org. v. City of Dallas, 529 F.3d 519, 531 (5th Cir. 2008); Am. Med. Ass’n v. Bowen, 857 F.2d 267, 270 (5th Cir. 1988). 3 See Bayou Liberty Ass’n, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of ...
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