Pedro Arturo Salmeron-Salmeron v. Warden Bill Spivey, 926 F.3d 1283

Salmeron-Salmeron, an El Salvadorian who entered the U.S. at 16, was initially identified as an unaccompanied alien child (UAC) and released to his parents; counsel obtained only voluntary departure which became a final removal order when he failed to depart.
After turning 18, ICE detained him, prepared a new I-213 indicating he was 18, and housed him in an adult detention facility; he later filed an asylum application with USCIS and a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.
USCIS declined jurisdiction over his asylum claim, concluding his prior UAC designation had been terminated by an affirmative act (new I-213 and adult detention); USCIS communicated this in July 2016 and Salmeron-Salmeron was deported in November 2016.
The district court adopted the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation, dismissed the habeas petition as moot, and granted partial summary judgment for the Government on the APA challenge, finding USCIS’s decision rational.
On appeal, Salmeron-Salmeron argued (1) the certified administrative record included irrelevant and post-decisional documents preventing effective review and (2) USCIS acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to adopt the prior UAC finding absent an affirmative act terminating it.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Adequacy of Administrative Record	Inclusion of unrelated/post-decisional documents and late supplementation prevented meaningful review	Errors in record submission were harmless; key materials showing USCIS rationale were before the court	Harmless error; no prejudice to review; district court did not rely on irrelevant docs
Whether USCIS acted arbitrarily in finding UAC status terminated	USCIS must adopt prior UAC finding absent an affirmative act; no proper affirmative act here	New I-213 showing age 18 and placement in adult facility constituted an affirmative act under USCIS guidance	Decision was not arbitrary or capricious; USCIS had a rational basis to find UAC status terminated
Whether an I-213 or adult detention suffices as an affirmative act	I-213 is not an action document; adult detention can be consistent with UAC status	A new I-213 identifying him as 18 and transfer to adult detention showed considered determination that he was an adult	Court held both facts together were sufficient to constitute an affirmative act and were rationally connected to the decision
Mootness of Habeas Petition	Habeas should survive because removal had consequences or because APA relief might affect custody	Habeas is moot because petitioner is no longer in custody and he did not challenge the removal order; no meaningful relief remains	Habeas claim dismissed as moot; APA claim failure leaves no remedy to revive habeas

Camp v. Pitts, 411 U.S. 138 (1973) (review limited to administrative record before agency at time of decision)
Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29 (1983) (arbitrary-and-capricious standard requires rational connection between facts and agency action)
Animal Legal Def. Fund v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 789 F.3d 1206 (11th Cir. 2015) (harmless-error approach to administrative-record mistakes)
McCullum v. Orlando Reg’l Healthcare Sys., Inc., 768 F.3d 1135 (11th Cir. 2014) (summary judgment standard and drawing inferences for nonmoving party)
Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1 (1998) (mootness principles for habeas when petitioner no longer in custody)
Moore v. Ashcroft, 251 F.3d 919 (11th Cir. 2001) (habeas claims by removed aliens may survive mootness if collateral consequences exist)