Lina Thoung came to the United States illegally in 2002, and fraudulently obtained citizenship here in 2007. In 2012, her fraud came to light, and she pleaded guilty and stipulated to a removal order, but could not then be deported to her native Cambodia.
Five years later, she filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus to challenge the removal order. Yesterday, in Thoung v. United States, an opinion by Chief Judge Tymkovich, the Tenth Circuit held that the REAL ID Act deprived the district and appellate courts or jurisdiction to consider her untimely-filed petition.
Judge Phillips dissented, arguing that removal was not authorized for the crime of which she was convicted in the first place.
