The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has cleared the way for the deportation of three people whose appeal paperwork did not reach the court after being sent through FedEx. In a unanimous ruling issued Oct. 7, a three-judge panel dismissed the appeal by Erika Daniela Celis-Nino, Wilmer Alexander Ochoa-Galan and a third petitioner identified as Jane Doe. The panel concluded they had not met the legal requirement to file a petition for review within 30 days of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals. An immigration judge in Denver rejected the three petitioners’ asylum and torture claims in April 2024. The Board of Immigration Appeals upheld that decision in October 2024. The petitioners, who were representing themselves, mailed their appeal to the 10th Circuit on Oct. 17, expecting delivery the next day—well before the filing deadline. But the package was not delivered. Celis-Nino learned of the problem after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained her on Feb. 7, 2025. The three petitioners filed a replacement petition three days later, and the government asked the court to dismiss it as late. The appeals court appointed attorneys, who argued that the missed delivery was an extraordinary circumstance outside the petitioners’ control. They also said the FedEx receipt showed delivery was scheduled for Oct. 18 and that the petitioners had no electronic access to the court docket to monitor whether the papers arrived. The panel acknowledged the petitioners had acted promptly in mailing the filing. But Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, writing for the court, said they should have checked the shipment’s tracking information after the scheduled delivery date. The tracking system showed a “shipment exception,” indicating a problem, and the judges said there was still time to submit the petition another way before the deadline. The decision highlights the consequences of a strict filing deadline in immigration cases: despite the initial attempt to file on time, the court did not review the merits of the asylum and torture claims. Judges Scott M. Matheson Jr. and Gregory A. Phillips joined Tymkovich’s opinion in Celis-Nino et al. v. Blanche.