Case Explained: Ezequiel Morales Escalante v. Todd Blanche, Attorney General of the United States

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-10 The eighth-circuit denied the petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order upholding the denial of withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A). The court held that the petitioner could not rely on a family-based particular social group because that theory was not exhausted before the agency: his counsel had expressly abandoned it before the immigration judge and proceeded only on a different proposed social group. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1), the BIA properly applied its waiver rule and refused to consider the family-based group for the first time on appeal, and the BIA had no obligation to raise that theory on its own. The court also said the petitioner did not challenge the BIA’s separate conclusion that the particular social group he actually pursued before the immigration judge was not legally cognizable. Because failure to establish a cognizable particular social group is dispositive of a withholding claim, that unchallenged ruling independently defeated relief. Any arguments about the immigration judge’s other reasons for denial were therefore unnecessary and unreviewable. As a practical matter, the removal order remains in place and the denial of withholding of removal stands. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.