Maria YANEZ-MARQUEZ, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent, 789 F.3d 434

Petition denied by published opinion. Senior Judge HAMILTON wrote the opinion in which Judge KING and Judge FLOYD joined. HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge: Maria Yanez-Marquez (Yanez), a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision dismissing her appeal from the order of an Immigration Judge (IJ) ordering her removal from the United States to El Salvador. Prior to ordering Yanez’s removal, the IJ denied her motion to suppress certain evidence and to terminate the removal proceeding.

At the center of Yanez’s petition for review is her challenge to the denial of this motion, which was premised on, inter alia, alleged egregious violations of her Fourth Amendment rights. For the reasons stated below, we deny the petition for review. I A Because the IJ denied Yanez’s motion to suppress and to terminate without an evi-dentiary hearing, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to Yanez. Cotzojay v. Holder, 725 F.3d 172, 178 (2d Cir.2013).

In June 2008, agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were investigating Robert Bontempo, Jr. and Rebecca Bontempo, the owners of Annapolis Painting Services (APS). The agents suspected that the Bontempos employed and harbored illegal aliens. The Bontempos owned a property, 402 Harbor Drive, Annapolis, Maryland (the Premises), which ICE surveillance revealed was occupied by Jose Umana Ruiz (Umana), an illegal alien and El Salvadorian citizen. Unbeknownst to the agents, Yanez, an illegal alien and Umana’s long-time partner, also lived at the Premises. In June 2008, Yanez was five months pregnant.

In an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the Premises and numerous other houses owned by the Bontempos that were tied to the housing of illegal aliens, ICE Special Agent Francis Coker (Agent Coker) outlined the extensive background evidence concerning how employers employ and house illegal aliens, and the extensive evidence concerning how APS and the Bontempos engaged in such practices. The affidavit also included a picture of the Premises and described it as a “single-family home[,] a single story building with a shingled roof.” (J.A. 524).

A mailbox, with the number “402,” is located in front of the Premises. (J.A. 524). The affidavit noted that Anne Arundel County land records reflected a sale of the Premises from Jennifer Scott to the Bon-tempos in October 2000 for the sum of $156,000.00. The search warrant that accompanied Agent Coker’s affidavit had two boxes on its front side, where the issuing judge was required to designate the time of day when the search was authorized to occur. The “daytime” box read “in the daytime — 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.” (J.A. 455).

Meanwhile, the alternative “any time” box read “at any time in the day or night as I find reasonable cause has been established.” (J.A. 455). In issuing the warrant for the Premises, a United States Magistrate Judge in the District of Maryland checked only the daytime box and struck the language next to the any time box that would have authorized a nighttime search as follows: “at any-time in the day or night-as I find- reasonable — cause has-been established;” (J.A. 455) (strikeout in original). Thus, the warrant for the Premises authorized a daytime search only, to be conducted between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

The warrant also specified that the search was to be completed on or before July 4, 2008. The scope of the items to be seized under the warrant was broad and included illegal aliens, travel documents, financial records, and photographs of harbored aliens. The magistrate judge issued the search warrant on June 24, 2008. The search of the Premises took place six days later, on the morning of Monday, June 30, 2008. Prior to the search, several ICE agents, along with officers of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, assembled in an Annapolis parking lot for a briefing.

ICE Agent Sean Currie (Agent Currie), the ICE search team leader, assigned responsibilities for the search. After the briefing, the search team proceeded to the Premises, which was ten to fifteen minutes away by car, to execute the warrant. According to Yanez, the search warrant was executed at the Premises at 5:00 a.m. Agent Currie knocked on the front door which was answered by another occupant of the Premises, Jose Mendoza-Gomez (Mendoza), who immediately was handcuffed ' and seated on the couch in the living room for officer safety. After detaining Mendoza, two agents proceeded upstairs.

Umana and Yanez were awakened by the yelling of “police” and a loud banging on their bedroom door. (J.A. 141). Umana and Yanez had been planning to sleep later than normal that morning because Yanez had the day off from work. She felt groggy and confused because “it seemed like it was the middle of the night.” (J.A. 141). She had no idea what was going on. Umana clothed himself, but before he could reach the locked door, the ICE agents broke it down, causing the door to hit Umana’s hand. Two agents “burst” into the room and screamed “police.” (J.A. 142). One agent grabbed Umana’s neck and threw him to the ground.

The other held a gun to Umana’s head while, pinning his body and face to the floor. The agents screamed “don’t move.” (J.A. 142). Once Umana was held down, an agent pointed a gun at Yanez’s head and yelled “don’t move.” (J.A. 142). Yanez, who was wearing a “nightshirt,” cried and pleaded for permission to cover herself “with more clothes.” (J.A. 142). The agent again screamed “don’t move” and pointed his gun at her head. (J.A. 142). Umana told the agents that Yanez was pregnant and begged them to allow her to get dressed.

A female agent was called for assistance and came to Yanez, telling her that “it will be okay.” (J.A. 142). Yanez was scared that she or Uma-na would be harmed, and she was not allowed to use the restroom. Although an agent was speaking in Spanish, loud noise obstructed Yanez from hearing. The agents handcuffed Umana and escorted him downstairs. Yanez grabbed a “T-shirt to put over [her] nightshirt” as she was led downstairs at gunpoint. (J.A. 143). Downstairs, Yanez saw four ICE agents in the living room. She was told to join Umana on the couch.

Although the occupants denied that anyone else was in the house, the agents knocked down doors and found no one. For five to ten minutes, the agents questioned the occupants about their identities, asking repeatedly about Annapolis Painting Services. The occupants denied knowing anything about the company. The agents were “extremely hostile,” and Yanez thought that someone would be harmed if they did not answer the questions. (J.A. 143). The agents then took the occupants’ fingerprints and escorted Umana and Mendoza away.

Ya-nez was “never shown a warrant, [never] told that [she] had a right to an attorney, [and never told] that [she] could refuse to answer any questions.” (J.A. 143). The ICE agents searched the entire house, “ripp[ing] apart each room that they went through,” kicking down doors, scattering documents, and turning over furniture. (J.A. 144). During the search, Yanez again was questioned. The agents asked her if she had a car and keys for it, which Yanez conceded. Yanez felt she had no choice but to surrender the keys. Her car was searched.

The agents told Yanez that she “had” to sign “several pieces of paper,” although she did not want to sign them, asked why she had to sign, and did not understand what they said. (J.A. 144). Despite no one reading or explaining the documents to her, she signed them. Before leaving, an ICE agent told Yanez that she would get a letter from “the Immigration Court” and warned her not to move to a different location. (J.A. 145). When the agents left at 9:15 a.m., they took many of Yanez’s belongings, including her pay stubs, tax returns, and photo albums. These items were never returned.

After the search, Yanez left the Premises and spent the night at her sister-in-law’s house. She returned to the Premises the following day to find the landlord’s employees “hauling” off her and Umana’s “belongings ... to the trash dump.” (J.A. 145). Later that day, Yanez experienced stress and severe abdominal pain that she believes were caused by the search, seizure, and questioning. At 5:30 p.m., she was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released after a few hours. Upon her release from the hospital, Yanez was told her unborn child would be “alright.” (J.A. 145).

Yanez’s statements to the ICE agents were memorialized on two “Form I-218s” (Record of Deportable/Inadmissible Alien). The forms state that Yanez is a native and citizen of El Salvador and that she “last entered the United States on or about April 2007 without inspection.” (J.A. 453). The forms further reveal that Yanez has been illegally present in the United States since her April 2007 entry. B On July 10, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice to appear to Yanez.

The notice alleged that Yanez was “an alien present in the United States who had not been admitted or paroled.” (J.A. 547); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)© (rendering inadmissible an alien who has not been properly admitted or paroled). In support of this allegation, the notice alleged that Yanez: (1) was not a United States citizen; (2) was a native and citizen of El Salvador; (3) entered the United States at an unknown location on an unknown date; and (4) was not “admitted or paroled after inspection by an Immigration Officer.” (J.A. 547).

On February 10, 2010, the DHS filed its “Submission of Intended Evidence,” which designated the evidence the DHS intended to introduce in the removal proceeding as follows: (1) the two Form I-213s; (2) the search warrant executed for the Premises; and (3) the affidavit in support of the warrant. In response, on April 21, 2010, Yanez filed a “motion to suppress and to terminate removal proceedings.” (J.A. 106).

Yanez claimed that, during the June 30, 2008 search, seizure, and questioning, the ICE agents egregiously violated her Fourth Amendment rights, violated her Fifth Amendment due process rights, and failed to follow five applicable federal regulations. In her motion, Yanez stressed that the Supreme Court’s decision in INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984), permitted the application of the exclusionary rule in a civil removal proceeding where the Fourth Amendment violations were either widespread or egregious.

More specifically, Yanez first claimed that the ICE agents egregiously violated her Fourth Amendment rights when they executed the search warrant at 5:00 a.m. instead of between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Second, Yanez claimed that the warrant’s lack of particularity egregiously violated her Fourth Amendment rights in that (1) she was not specified as an “item” to be seizéd in the warrant and (2) the agents should have known the Premises was a “two-floor, multi-family dwelling.” (J.A. 118).

Third, Yanez claimed that her Fourth Amendment rights were egregiously violated when the agents used excessive force during the search and seizure. Fourth, she claimed that the Fourth Amendment violations committed by the agents were part of a widespread pattern of ICE misconduct. Fifth, Yanez claimed that the agents violated her Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause rights when they coerced her into making incriminating statements.

Finally, she claimed that the agents violated five different federal regulations, in particular, 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(b)(2) (permitting an immigration officer to detain a person for questioning if he has reasonable suspicion “that the person being questioned is, or is attempting to be, engaged in an offense against the United States or is an alien illegally in the United States”), 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(c)(2)© (“An arrest shall be made only when the designated immigration officer has reason to believe that the person to be arrested has committed an offense against the United States or is an alien illegally in the United States”), 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(c)(2)(ii) (“A warrant of arrest shall be obtained except when the designated immigration officer has reason to believe that the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”), 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(a)(l)(iii) (“A designated immigration officer shall always use the minimum non-deadly force necessary to accomplish the officer’s mission and shall escalate to a higher level of non-deadly force only when such higher level of force is warranted by the actions, apparent intentions, and apparent capabilities of the suspect, prisoner or assailant”), and 8 C.F.R. § 287.3(c) (which requires that an alien who is arrested without a warrant and placed in formal removal proceedings be informed that she has a right to an attorney and provided with a list of attorneys that provide free legal services).

In its response, the DHS first argued that the exclusionary rule does not apply to civil removal proceedings, also relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Lopez-Mendoza. The DHS stressed that the Court in Lopez-Mendoza “did not affirmatively state that egregious Fourth Amendment violations are an exception to the Court’s holding that the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule is inapplicable in civil deportation proceedings.” (J.A. 47).

Alternatively, the DHS argued that, even if the exclusionary rule applied, Yanez failed to set forth facts establishing a pri-ma facie case of an egregious violation of her Fourth Amendment rights or a violation of her Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause rights. See Matter of Barcenas, 19 I. & N. Dec. 609, 611 (BIA 1988) (noting that petitioner challenging the admissibility of evidence in removal proceeding is required to establish a prima facie case for exclusion).

Finally, the DHS argued that the ICE agents did not violate any applicable regulations, and, even if they did, it did not justify suppressing the challenged evidence. Along with its motion, the DHS submitted the declarations of Agent Currie and Agent Federico. These declarations take issue with not only Ya-nez’s timing assertions, but also her assertions concerning the manner in which the search, seizure, and questioning were carried out.

In her decision denying the motion to suppress and to terminate, the IJ first rejected the DHS’s contention that the exclusionary rule did not apply in civil removal proceedings, relying on Lopez-Mendoza and BIA precedent. The IJ then set forth the prima facie case framework, noting that Yanez bore the initial burden of alleging facts constituting an egregious Fourth Amendment violation. The IJ then turned to Yanez’s substantive claims and rejected each one of them.

In rejecting Yanez’s claim that the ICE agents committed egregious Fourth Amendment violations, the IJ stated: With respect to the timing of entry, even if ICE agents entered “at 5 a.m.” as the Respondent asserts, the Court cannot find that such a violation of the terms of the warrant — by a single hour — would be egregious.

That simply does not amount to conduct that “shocks the conscience.” With respect to the entry into the bedroom, even if an officer ... had simply come upon the locked door, banged on it, announced his presence, and forced it open with another officer, the Court cannot conclude that such action would be egregious. The agents were executing a search warrant.... The alleged .timing of entry into the residence and method of entry into the bedroom were not egregious violations. (J.A. 543).

Turning next to Yanez’s challenge to the amount of force used by the agents, the IJ rejected this challenge, noting: With respect to the force used by the officers in the home, the Court cannot conclude that excessive force was used, even considering solely the Respondent’s account. The Respondent’s affidavit claims that an officer held a gun to her head. The Respondent acknowledges that both officers were screaming, “don’t move!” in English and Spanish.... The Respondent indicates, that her partner told the officers that the Respondent was pregnant and asked that she be allowed to put on more clothes.

She also indicates that when the officers heard this, they asked for a female officer to come up to the bedroom. These actions, while no doubt extremely frightening for the Respondent, are consistent with ensuring officer safety and enabling the officers to control a potentially dangerous situation. There is no showing that greater than necessary force was used or that weapons were drawn any longer than necessary. The Respondent acknowledges that the officers identified themselves as police and repeatedly shouted at them not to move.

She acknowledges that a female officer was called as soon as her partner told them that she was pregnant. She also acknowledges that she was not put in handcuffs, that she was not taken out of the house for further processing, and that she was not placed in immigration detention. The actions of the agents and the other officers were reasonable under the circumstances and reflect that ICE officials took appropriate account of the Respondent’s pregnancy throughout the operation. As such, those actions cannot be found to be egregious. (J.A. 544).

With regard to Yanez’s claim that the ICE agents violated her Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause rights, the IJ rejected this claim, concluding that the circumstances as a whole did not “reflect an atmosphere of coercion and intimidation that would render [Yanez’s] statements involuntary.” (J.A. 544). Next, the IJ rejected two of the five regulatory claims pressed by Yanez. First, the IJ rejected Yanez’s § 287.8(a)(l)(iii) claim on the basis that she had “not made a sufficient showing that excessive force was used.” (J.A. 545). Second, the IJ rejected the § 287.3(

c) claim because the DHS’s notice to appear had sufficiently advised Yanez of her right to counsel. As for the three remaining regulatory claims, for some inexplicable reason, the IJ quoted the regulations (§ 287.8(b)(2), § 287.8(c)(2)(i), § 287.8(c)(2)(h)), but did not explain her reasoning for rejecting the claims. The IJ then addressed Yanez’s widespread ICE misconduct argument. The IJ rejected this argument, finding “no basis to suppress evidence in this case on the basis of what may or may not have occurred in other cases or during other enforcement operations.” (J.A. 546).

The IJ concluded her opinion by noting that Yanez had “not met her burden of establishing a prima facie case for suppression of evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, ICE regulations, or on any other theory.” (J.A. 546). Accordingly, the IJ denied the motion to suppress and to terminate. On December 13, 2010, the IJ found that the DHS had satisfied its burden of proving removability by clear and convincing evidence. See Karimi v.

Holder, 715 F.3d 561, 566 (4th Cir.2013) (“In removal proceedings, the government bears the burden of proving removability ... by clear and convincing evidence.”). Because Ya-nez had not sought relief from removal, the IJ ordered that Yanez be removed from the United States to El Salvador. On January 11, 2011, Yanez filed a notice of appeal with the BIA. In her brief filed with the BIA on April 1, 2011, Yanez reiterated all of the arguments that she raised before the IJ, save one.

She did not claim, as she did before the IJ, that the Fourth Amendment violations committed by the ICE agents were part of a larger, widespread pattern of misconduct by ICE officials. To be sure,

Part III D of Yanez’s motion to suppress and to terminate filed with the IJ raises the widespread pattern claim in a

section following

Part III C iv of the motion, which raised the § 287.3 claim. In her brief filed with the BIA, the conclusion

section of the brief follows the § 287.3 claim, and the brief contains no argument concerning widespread constitutional violations committed by ICE officials. On April 7, 2011, the DHS filed its brief with the BIA. In urging the BIA to affirm the IJ’s decision, the DHS “incorporate^ by reference the entirety” of the brief it filed with the IJ. (J.A. 8). On April 15, 2013, the BIA dismissed Yanez’s appeal. In its decision, the BIA first noted that the exclusionary rule does not apply in civil removal proceedings unless the alleged Fourth Amendment violation is egregious.

Next, the BIA rejected Yanez’s claim that the ICE agents egregiously violated her Fourth Amendment rights, relying on the reasoning of the IJ. The BIA also adopted the reasoning of the IJ in rejecting Yanez’s Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause claim and her regulatory claims under § 287.8(a)(l)(iii) and § 287.3(c). With regard to the three regulations the IJ quoted but did not address, § 287.8(b)(2), § 287.8(c)(2)®, and § 287.8(c)(2)(h), the BIA determined that no remand was necessary because the.

IJ adequately addressed the nature of Ya-nez’s “detention and interrogation, as well as the warrant used by the ICE officers.” (J.A. 5). As a result, the BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision and dismissed Yanez’s appeal. Yanez filed a timely petition for review under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. II A When the BIA affirms and adopts an IJ’s decision and includes its own reasons for affirming, we review both decisions as the final agency action. Ai Hua Chen v. Holder, 742 F.3d 171, 177 (4th Cir.2014). Legal conclusions made by the IJ and the BIA are reviewed die novo. Crespin-Valladares v. Holder, 632 F.3d 117, 124 (4th Cir.2011).

We must uphold the BIA’s decision unless it is “manifestly contrary to the law and an abuse of discretion.” Tassi v. Holder, 660 F.3d 710, 719 (4th Cir.2011). The BIA abuses its discretion if it fails “to offer a reasoned explanation for its decision, or if it distorts] or disregard^] important aspects of the applicant’s claim.” Id.

A petitioner challenging the admissibility of evidence in a civil removal proceeding “must come forward with proof establishing a prima facie case before the [government] will be called on to assume the burden of justifying the manner in which it obtained the evidence.” Matter of Barcenas, 19 I. & N. Dec. at 611 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Under this burden-shifting framework, “if the petitioner offers an affidavit that could support a basis for excluding the evidence ..., it must then be supported by testimony.” Maldonado v.

Holder, 763 F.3d 155, 160 (2d Cir.2014) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Upon the establishment of a prima facie case by the petitioner, the burden of proof shifts to the government to demonstrate why the IJ should admit the challenged evidence. Id. In the case before us, both the IJ and the BIA applied this framework and concluded that Yanez did not establish a pri-ma facie case on any of her claims to warrant a suppression hearing. It is this conclusion that Yanez principally challenges in this court.

B In her petition for review, Yanez presses claims under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, as well as certain regulatory claims. The heart of her case is that the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule requires the suppression of all statements and documentation regarding her national origin and citizenship obtained by the ICE agents, including the two Form I-213s. Yanez contends that, without the two Form I-213s and her statements, the government cannot meet its burden of proving her alienage and removability, and, therefore, her removal proceeding should be terminated.

At a minimum, Yanez claims that her affidavit and other record evidence provide a basis in which to exclude the challenged evidence, such that an evi-dentiary hearing is required. To resolve Yanez’s contentions, we must first decide whether the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule applies in the civil removal proceeding before us. C The Fourth Amendment protects the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const, amend. IV.

Although the Fourth Amendment “contains no provision expressly precluding the use of evidence obtained in violation of its commands,” Arizona v. Evans, 514 U.S. 1, 10, 115 S.Ct. 1185, 131 L.Ed.2d 34 (1995), to deter violations of the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court established the exclusionary rule, Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 398, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914), which, “when applicable, forbids the use of improperly obtained evidence at [a criminal] trial.” Herring v.

United States, 555 U.S. 135, 139, 129 S.Ct. 695, 172 L.Ed.2d 496 (2009); see also Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. at 1040-41, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (“The general rule in a criminal proceeding is that statements and other evidence obtained as a result of an unlawful, warrant-less arrest are suppressible if the link between the evidence and the unlawful conduct is not too attenuated.”). “[T]he exclusionary sanction applies to any ‘fruits’ of a constitutional violation — whether such evidence be tangible, physical material actually seized in an illegal search, items observed or words overheard in the course of the unlawful activity, or confessions or statements of the accused obtained during an illegal arrest and detention.” United States v.

Crews, 445 U.S. 463, 470, 100 S.Ct. 1244, 63 L.Ed.2d 537 (1980) (footnotes omitted). Given the “substantial social costs” of the application of the exclusionary rule, United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 907, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), namely, “the loss of often probative evidence and all of the secondary costs that flow from the less accurate or more cumbersome adjudication that therefore occurs,” Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. at 1041, 104 S.Ct. 3479, “the exclusionary rule is not a remedy we apply lightly,” Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon, 548 U.S. 331, 347, 126 S.Ct. 2669, 165 L.Ed.2d 557 (2006).

Indeed, the Supreme Court has cautioned that the exclusionary rule’s “massive remedy,” Hudson v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586, 595, 126 S.Ct. 2159, 165 L.Ed.2d 56 (2006) — the suppression of evidence — is “our last resort, not our first impulse,” id. at 591,126 S.Ct. 2159. While the applicability of the exclusionary rule in a criminal proceeding is settled, the applicability of the rule in a civil removal proceeding is not. The Supreme Court has never applied the rule in a removal proceeding.

In fact, in Lopez-Mendoza, the Supreme Court held that the exclusionary rule generally does not apply in removal proceedings. 468 U.S. at 1034, 104 S.Ct. 3479; see also United States v. Oscar-Torres, 507 F.3d 224, 230 (4th Cir.2007) (“Lopez-Mendoza establishes that the exclusionary rule does not apply in civil deportation proceedings.”). In Lopez-Mendoza, Adan Lopez-Mendoza (Lopez) and Elias Sandoval-Sanchez (Sandoval), two citizens of Mexico, were summoned to separate removal proceedings, and both were ordered deported after such proceedings. 468 U.S. at 1034, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents arrested Lopez at his place of employment, a transmission repair shop, without a warrant to search the repair shop or a warrant to arrest anyone there. Id. at 1035, 104 S.Ct. 3479. The repair shop owner refused to permit the agents to speak with his employees during work hours. Id. However, while one agent engaged the repair shop owner in conversation, another agent entered the repair shop and spoke with Lopez. Id. While he was being questioned, Lopez told the agent his name and that he was from Mexico with no close family ties in the United States. Id.

After the agent placed Lopez under arrest, he was transported to an INS office where he admitted that he was born in Mexico, was still a citizen of Mexico, and had entered the United States without inspection by immigration officials. Id. At his removal hearing, Lopez moved to terminate the removal proceeding on the basis that he was arrested illegally. Id. The IJ held that the legality of Lopez’s arrest was not germane to the removal proceeding, and, therefore, declined to rule on the legality of the arrest. Id.

On the basis of the Form 1-213 and an affidavit executed by Lopez, the IJ ordered that Lopez be removed from the United States to Mexico. Id. at 1035-36, 104 S.Ct. 3479. On appeal to the BIA, the BIA dismissed Lopez’s appeal. Id. at 1036, 104 S,Ct. 3479. The BIA noted that the “mere fact of an illegal arrest has no bearing on a subsequent deportation proceeding.” Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

On Lopez’s petition for review, the Ninth Circuit vacated Lopez’s removal order and remanded the case to the BIA for a determination of whether Lopez’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested. Id. The second petitioner in Lopez-Mendoza, Sandoval, was arrested at his place of employment, a potato processing plant in Pasco, Washington. Id. INS agents went to the plant, with the permission of its personnel manager, to check for illegal aliens. Id. During a shift change, plant workers were asked innocuous questions in English by INS agents as they entered the plant to work.

Id. at 1037, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Upon seeing the INS agents as he approached the entrance to the plant, Sandoval “averted his head, turned around, and walked away.” Id. Sandoval was among the thirty-seven people detained and transported to a county jail. Id. At the jail, Sandoval was questioned by an INS agent and admitted, in a written statement, that he unlawfully entered into the United States. Id. At his removal hearing, Sandoval contended that the evidence offered by the INS should be suppressed as the fruit of an unlawful arrest. Id.

The IJ considered and rejected Sandoval’s claim that he had been illegally arrested, but ruled in the alternative that the legality of the arrest was not relevant to the removal hearing. Id. Based on the written record of Sandoval’s admissions, the IJ found him removable. Id. at 1038,104 S.Ct. 3479. On appeal to the BIA, the BIA dismissed Sandoval’s appeal. Id. The BIA declined to invoke the exclusionary rule, concluding that the circumstances of the arrest had not affected the voluntariness of Sandoval’s written statement. Id. On Sandoval’s petition for review, the Ninth Circuit reversed the removal order. Id.

The Ninth Circuit opined that Sandoval’s detention by the INS agents violated the Fourth Amendment, that the statements he made were a product of that detention, and that the exclusionary rule barred their use in a removal hearing. Id. In resolving the cases before it, the Supreme Court quickly disposed of Lopez’s challenge to his removal order because the “mere fact of an illegal arrest has no bearing on a subsequent deportation proceeding.” Id. at 1040, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

According to the Court, “[t]he ‘body’ or identity of a defendant or respondent in a criminal or civil proceeding is never itself suppressible as a fruit of an unlawful arrest, even if it is conceded that an unlawful arrest, search, or interrogation occurred.” Id. at 1039,104 S.Ct. 3479. Sandoval’s case meaningfully differed from that of Lopez’s case in that Sandoval challenged the admissibility of evidence at his removal hearing, while Lopez only raised a personal jurisdiction challenge. Cf.

Oscar-Torres, 507 F.3d at 229 (noting that, in Lopez-Mendoza, Lopez’s case only raised a personal jurisdictional challenge, that is, Lopez sought “suppression of [his] body,” while Sandoval conceded personal jurisdiction, but sought to suppress the evidence in his removal proceeding). Indeed, the Court in Lopez-Mendoza observed that Sandoval had “a more substantial claim” because “[h]e objected not to his compelled presence at a deportation proceeding, but to evidence offered at that proceeding.” 468 U.S. at 1040, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

As a result, the Court considered whether the exclusionary rule should apply to prohibit the government from using illegally obtained evidence of Sandoval’s alien-age against him in his removal proceeding. Id. at 1040-41,104 S.Ct. 3479. In determining whether to apply the exclusionary rule in a removal proceeding, the Supreme Court in Lopez-Mendoza noted that removal proceedings are “purely civil,” id. at 1038, 104 S.Ct. 3479, the purpose of which is “not to punish past transgressions but rather to put an end to a continuing violation of the immigration laws.” Id. at 1039, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

The Court emphasized that the evidentiary protections that apply in criminal proceedings do not apply in removal proceedings because: (1) criminal trials adjudicate the defendant’s guilt, whereas removal proceedings determine the alien’s “eligibility to remain in this country”; and (2) unlike criminal trials, removal hearings do not impose punishment on the alien. Id. at 1038, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Given this, the Court characterized the intent of a removal hearing as a “streamlined determination of eligibility to remain in this country, nothing more.” Id. at 1039, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

Viewing a removal proceeding through the proper lens, the Court employed a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether to apply the exclusionary rule to removal proceedings, id. at 1041-50,104 S.Ct. 3479, weighing the “social benefits of excluding unlawfully seized evidence against the likely costs.” Id. at 1041, 104 S.Ct. 3479; of. Leon, 468 U.S. at 906-08, 104 S.Ct. 3405 (concluding that evidence obtained pursuant to the good faith reliance on a defective warrant should not be excluded because the cost of exclusion outweighed the benefit of deterrence); United States v.

Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 454, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1976) (declining to apply the exclusionary rule to a civil tax proceeding because the cost of exclusion outweighed the benefit of deterrence). On the benefit side of the ledger, the Court proffered four reasons why, in the context of removal proceedings, the deterrent value of the exclusionary rule was significantly reduced. 468 U.S. at 1043-46, 104 S.Ct. 3479. First, the Court opined that, because deportability can be proven by evidence independent of the arrest, the legality of the arrest was irrelevant. Id. at 1043-44, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

Second, the Court noted that very few undocumented aliens actually challenge removal orders based on Fourth Amendment grounds, making it “unlikely” that an immigration agent would “shape his conduct in anticipation of the exclusion of evidence” at a removal hearing. Id. at 1044, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Third, because the INS already had its own comprehensive scheme for deterring Fourth Amendment violations, application of the exclusionary rule was unnecessary. Id. at 1044-45, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

Finally, the Court reasoned that the availability of alternative remedies, such as civil or criminal sanctions against the immigration official, further undermined the deterrent value of the exclusionary rule. Id. at 1045,104 S.Ct. 3479. The Lopez-Mendoza Court then turned to the cost of exclusion. First, the Court observed that the effect of applying the exclusionary rule required courts “to close their eyes to ongoing violations of the law.” Id. at 1046, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Second, applying the exclusionary rule would significantly complicate the “simple” and “streamlined” deportation system.

Id. at 1048, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Finally, the Court opined that, with respect to the apprehension of over one million undocumented aliens each year, expecting immigration agents to provide written details of each arrest and to attend suppression hearings would severely burden the administration of immigration laws. Id. at 1048-49, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Weighing the benefits of exclusion against the likely costs, the Court in Lopez-Mendoza was persuaded that the scales tipped against applying the exclusionary rule in removal proceedings. Id. at 1050, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

In particular, the Court emphasized that the “costs” of applying the exclusionary rule in removal proceedings are “high,” noting that such application “would compel the courts to release from custody persons who would then immediately resume their commission of a crime through their continuing, unlawful presence in this country.” Id.

After concluding that the exclusionary rule was inapplicable to removal proceedings because the costs outweighed the benefits, a plurality of the Court in Lopez-Mendoza appeared to limit the scope of its holding by apparently reserving judgment for cases that presented a “good reason to believe that Fourth Amendment violations by INS officers were widespread.” Id. at 1050, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

In carving out this apparent limitation, the plurality emphasized that its holding “[did] not deal ... with egregious violations of Fourth Amendment or other liberties that might transgress notions of fundamental fairness and undermine the probative value of the evidence obtained.” Id. at 1050-51, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (footnote omitted). Four Justices dissented in Lopez-Mendoza. Each of these four Justices opined that the exclusionary rule should apply in removal proceedings.

See id. at 1052, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (White, J., dissenting) (“I believe that the conclusion of the majority is based upon an incorrect assessment of the costs and benefits of applying the rule in [removal proceedings].”); id. at 1051, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (Brennan, J., dissenting) (“I fully agree with Justice White that ... the exclusionary rule must apply in civil deportation proceedings” not because it is a deterrent but because “of the Fourth Amendment itself.”); id. at 1060, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (Marshall, J., dissenting) (“I agree with Justice White that ... [Supreme Court precedent] compels the conclusion that the exclusionary rule should apply in civil deportation proceedings.”); id. at 1061, 104 S.Ct. 3479 (Stevens, J., dissenting) (“Because the Court has not yet held that the rule of ... [Leon ] ... has any application to warrantless searches, I do not join the portion of Justice WHITE’S opinion that relies on that case.

I do, however, agree with the remainder of his dissenting opinion.”). Considering the position of the four dissenting justices, a total of eight justices in Lopez-Mendoza seem to have agreed that the exclusionary rule should apply in removal proceedings in some form. Since Lopez-Mendoza was decided, circuit courts have applied the exclusionary rule in removal proceedings in a variety of circumstances. See, e.g., Cotzojay, 725 F.3d at 179-83 (addressing whether war-rantless entry into alien’s home was egregious Fourth Amendment violation); Oliva-Ramos v.

Att’y Gen., 694 F.3d 259, 278-79 (3d Cir.2012) (addressing whether ICE agents’ entry into apartment and seizure of the alien egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment, and whether the ICE agents’ conduct was part of a widespread pattern of Fourth Amendment misconduct); Puc-Ruiz v. Holder, 629 F.3d 771, 779 (8th Cir.2010) (addressing whether the arrest of the alien egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment); Kandamar v.

Gonzales, 464 F.3d 65, 71 (1st Cir.2006) (addressing whether alien’s statements were obtained in egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment); Almeida-Amaral v. Gonzales, 461 F.3d 231, 233-37 (2d Cir.2006) (addressing whether the alien’s seizure was an egregious Fourth Amendment violation); Gonzalez-Rivera v. INS, 22 F.3d 1441, 1449 (9th Cir.1994) (addressing whether stop of alien egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment).

Such courts have applied the rule even though the Court’s limiting language in Lopez-Mendoza could be labeled as “dicta” in that the Court arguably. reserved judgment on whether the exclusionary rule applies in the event of an egregious Fourth Amendment. See, e.g., Olivar-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 275 (noting that the apparent limitation in Lopez-Mendoza could be characterized as dicta). In our case, the IJ, the BIA, and the Attorney General all agree that the exclusionary rule applies, in removal proceedings to egregious violations of the Fourth Amendment.

Although we have not had occasion to consider the application of the exclusionary rule in removal proceedings in a published opinion, we are in agreement with those courts that have concluded that the rule applies to egregious violations of the Fourth Amendment. To hold otherwise would give no effect to the language used by the Supreme Court in Lopez-Mendoza expressing concern over fundamentally unfair methods of obtaining evidence and would ignore the fact that eight justices in Lopez-Mendoza seem to have agreed that the exclusionary rule applies, in removal proceedings in some form.

Moreover, even assuming the Court’s limitation in Lopez-Mendoza could be construed as dicta, we simply cannot ignore the import of the language used by the Supreme Court in that case. See United States v. Fareed, 296 F.3d 243, 247 (4th Cir.2002) (following ‘‘dictum endorsed by six justices” of the Supreme Court and citing Gaylor v. United States, 74 F.3d 214, 217 (10th Cir.1996) (stating that federal appellate court is “ ‘bound by Supreme Court dicta almost as firmly as by the Court’s outright holdings’ ”)).

Accordingly, we hold that the exclusionary rule applies in removal proceedings where the challenged evidence has been obtained by “egregious violations of [the] Fourth Amendment ... that might transgress notions of fundamental fairness and undermine the probative value of the evidence obtained.” Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. at 1050-51, 104 S.Ct. 3479. Under this holding, an alien seeking the application of the exclusionary rule to a Fourth Amendment claim in a removal hearing faces two hurdles at the prima facie case stage. First, she must allege facts that state a violation of her rights under the Fourth Amendment.

Oli-var-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 275. Second, the alien must show that the alleged violation of the Fourth Amendment was egregious. Id. To get an evidentiary hearing, the alien must satisfy both prongs. See Maldonado, 763 F.3d at 162 (“Petitioners were required to proffer affidavits based on personal knowledge that, taken as true, could support suppression.

Had their affidavits been sufficient, they would have had an opportunity to confirm those allegations in an evidentiary hearing.”)- If an evidentia-ry hearing is warranted, the alien will have the opportunity to present testimony and evidence in support of her Fourth Amendment claim. Id. Upon the establishment of a prima facie case, the burden of proof shifts to the government to demonstrate why the IJ should admit the challenged evidence. Id. A court reviewing the alien’s claim may, but is not required to, address both the constitutional and egregiousness prongs.

Like a § 1983 qualified immunity inquiry, the court can choose to decline to address whether a Fourth Amendment violation has occurred and first address whether the egregiousness prong has been satisfied. See, e.g., Martinez Carcamo v. Holder, 713 F.3d 916, 922 (8th Cir.2013) (holding that alleged Fourth Amendment violations were not egregious and declining to address whether Fourth Amendment violations had occurred); Martinez-Medina v.

Holder, 673 F.3d 1029, 1034 (9th Cir.2011) (“However, we need not and do not decide whether the seizure violated Petitioners’ Fourth Amendment rights because we conclude that, even if the seizure violated Petitioners’ Fourth Amendment rights, the violation was not egregious.”); see also Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 235-37, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (explaining that, in deciding the question of § 1983 qualified immunity, the court may, but is not required to, address both the constitutional and clearly established prongs; rather, it may decide the case solely on the clearly established prong).

Thus, if the alien fails to allege facts sufficient to show that an immigration official has violated the Fourth Amendment, relief can be denied alone on that basis. Cf. Evans v. Chalmers, 703 F.3d 636, 646 (4th Cir.2012) (“[I]f a plaintiff fails to allege that an official has violated any right, the official ‘is hardly in need of any immunity and the analysis ends right then and there.’ ” (quoting. Abney v. Coe, 493 F.3d 412, 415 (4th Cir.2007))). Alternatively, relief can be denied where the alien fails to allege facts that an immigration official egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment.

See Maldonado, 763 F.3d at 160 (“The affidavits in this case do not suggest egregious constitutional violations, and therefore could not support a basis for excluding the evidence.” (brackets, citation, and internal quotation marks omitted)). If there is an evidentiary hearing on the alien’s claim, relief can be denied if the alien fails to meet her evidentia-ry burden on either prong. Olivar-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 279. D As noted above, an alien seeking to invoke the exclusionary rule in a removal proceeding must demonstrate: (1) a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights; and (2) that the violation was egregious.

While the standard for establishing the constitutional violation prong is straightforward— alleging facts establishing a violation of the Fourth Amendment, Chalmers, 703 F.3d at 646 — the standard for establishing the egregiousness prong is not so straightforward. The confusion, and hence uncertainty, stems from

Part V of Lopez-Mendoza. 1

Part V of Lopez-Mendoza sanctions the application of the exclusionary rule in cases where the evidence was obtained as a result of “egregious violations of Fourth Amendment or other liberties that might transgress notions of fundamental fairness and undermine the probative value of the evidence obtained.” 468 U.S. at 1050-51, 104 S.Ct. 3479. The exact meaning of this statement is far from clear. The plain meaning of this statement suggests that the Fourth Amendment violation must “transgress notions of fundamental fairness” and “undermine the probative value of the evidence obtained.” Id.

However, closer inspection of the context of this statement reveals that the Supreme Court meant to use the disjunctive “or” instead of the conjunctive “and” to create two avenues of relief instead of one such avenue. In other words, an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment is: (1) a violation of the Fourth Amendment that transgresses notions of fundamental fairness; or (2) a violation of the Fourth Amendment that, regardless of the violation’s unfairness, undermines the probative value of the challenged evidence.

See Oli-var-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 278 (concluding that an egregious constitutional violation involves either a constitutional violation that was fundamentally unfair or, alternatively, a constitutional violation that, regardless of its unfairness, undermined the probative value of the obtained evidence); Almeida-Amaral, 461 F.3d at 234 (“The [.Lopez-Mendoza ] Court, seemingly inadvertently, used the conjunctive ‘and’ instead of the disjunctive ‘or’ to link these two possible grounds for deeming a violation egregious.”); Gonzalez-Rivera, 22 F.3d at 1451 (holding that a “fundamentally unfair Fourth Amendment violation is considered egregious regardless of the probative value of the evidence obtained”).

To be sure, the Lopez-Mendoza Court justified its exception for egregious constitutional violations by citing four cases in which the evidence was reliable (and therefore its probative value was not undermined), but nevertheless suppressible because its admission was fundamentally unfair. The first case cited was Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952). There, police officers obtained probative evidence of Rochin’s drug involvement by forcing him to ingest an emetic solution to induce vomiting so they could recover recently swallowed morphine capsules. Id. at 166, 72 S.Ct. 205.

The Court held that the probative evidence was illegally obtained because the method used offended even “hardened sensibilities” and “shocks the conscience” of the Court. Id. at 172, 72 S.Ct. 205. In no uncertain terms, the Court in Rochin opined that reliability is not the sole touchstone of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 173, 72 S.Ct. 205 (noting that coerced confessions are inadmissible in criminal trials “even though statements contained in them may be independently established as true” principally because they “offend the community’s sense of fair play and decency”).

Thus, it was the tactics of the police, not the reliability of the obtained evidence, that led to the exclusion of the evidence in Rochin. The three remaining cases concerning egregiousness cited by the Lopez-Mendoza Court were BIA decisions, Matter of Toro, 17 I. & N. Dec. 340 (BIA 1980); Matter of Garcia, 17 I. & N. Dec. 319 (BIA 1980); and Matter of Ramira-Cordova, No. [ AXX XXX XXX ] (BIA Feb. 21, 1980) (unpublished). In each of these cases, the BIA decision did not focus on the reliability of the evidence.

Rather, the decision focused on whether the admission of the contested evidence would be fundamentally fair. See Matter of Toro, 17 I. & N. Dec. at 343-44 (suggesting that a stop based on Hispanic appearance alone would constitute an egregious Fourth Amendment violation if the Border Patrol officers acted in bad faith, regardless of the probative value of the evidence obtained); Matter of Garcia, 17 I. & N.

Dec. at 320-21 (excluding statements obtained after agents repeatedly ignored detainee’s request for counsel); Matter of Ramira-Cordova, No. [ AXX XXX XXX ], slip op. at 3-4 (suppressing evidence obtained as a result of a nighttime war-rantless entry into the aliens’ residence). The Lopez-Mendoza Court’s use of the cited authority only makes sense if fundamental unfairness is not tethered to the probative value of the evidence obtained. As noted by the court in Orhorhaghe v.

INS, “[w]ere the rule to the contrary, the egregiousness exception would have little meaning, for the fruits of an illegal search or seizure ordinarily consist of physical evidence, the reliability of which is in no way affected by the manner in which the evidence is obtained.” 38 F.3d 488, 501 (9th Cir.1994). Given this, it is no surprise that the three circuits to have meaningfully considered the unsettled “and/or” issue raised by

Part V of the Lopez-Mendoza opinion have opted to replace the opinion’s “and” with an “or” to create a workable, disjunctive standard. Oliva-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 278; Almeida-Amaral, 461 F.3d at 234; Gonzalez-Rivera, 22 F.3d at 1451; but see Lopez-Rodriguez v. Holder, 560 F.3d 1098, 1105 (9th Cir.2009) (Bea, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) (“Finally, the Mendoza dicta seems to posit a conjunctive test.

To trigger application of the exclusionary rule, the egregious conduct must both (1) transgress notions of fundamental fairness and (2) undermine the probative value of the evidence obtained.” (emphasis, footnote, citation, and internal quotation marks omitted)). In our case, Yanez does not challenge the probative value of the evidence obtained as a result of the alleged wrongful search, seizure, and questioning. Consequently, the challenged evidence cannot be excluded on the basis that its probative value is undermined by the activities of the ICE agents.

Rather, the challenged evidence can only be excluded if the actions of the agents amounted to a violation of the Fourth Amendment that transgresses notions of fundamental fairness. This begs the question: When does a violation of the Fourth Amendment transgress notions of fundamental fairness? We turn to this question next. 2 A review of the case law demonstrates that there is no consensus on when a violation of the Fourth Amendment is egregious such that it transgresses notions of fundamental fairness. However, two different approaches to assessing egregiousness have emerged in the fact-specific case law.

The first is the qualified immunity approach, which is applied in the Ninth Circuit. The second is the totality of the circumstances approach, which is applied in the Second, Third, and Eighth Circuits. a The Ninth Circuit’s qualified immunity approach is the most alien-friendly test for egregiousness, linking the inquiry to a qualified immunity analysis. In Gonzalez-Rivera, the Ninth Circuit held that all “bad faith” violations of the Fourth Amendment are egregious, warranting the application of the exclusionary rule. 22 F.3d at 1449 & n. 5.

A bad faith Fourth Amendment violation occurs when “evidence is obtained by deliberate violations of the [Fjourth [Ajmendment, or by conduct a reasonable officer should have known is in violation of the Constitution.” Id. at 1449 (emphasis omitted). Applying that standard in Gonzalez-Rivera, the court held that stopping an individual based solely on a person’s race constitutes an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment because “the officers should have known that their, decision to stop [the alien] based solely on his Hispanic appearance was unconstitutional.” Id. at 1450.

In another case, the Ninth Circuit found an egregious violation where officers entered a home without trying to procure a warrant, without exigent circumstances, and without consent, because “reasonable officers should have known that they were violating the Fourth Amendment.” Lopez-Rodriguez v. Mukasey, 536 F.3d 1012, 1018 (9th Cir.2008). In the court’s view, “reasonable officers would not have thought it lawful to push open the door to petitioners’ home simply because [the petitioner] did not ‘tell them to leave or [that] she did not want to talk to them.’ ” Id.

Building on Lopez-Rodriguez, the Ninth Circuit in Martinez-Medina noted that whether “a reasonable officer should have known his conduct violated the Constitution depends in part on whether the constitutional right was clearly established in the particular context at issue.” 673 F.3d at 1034. There, a deputy sheriff was told by two Mexican nationals that they were illegally present in the United States. Id. at 1031. The deputy sheriff detained them solely by verbal instruction until an immigration officer arrived. Id. at 1031-32.

The aliens admitted to the immigration officer that they were illegally present in the United States. Id. at 1032. The Martinez-Medina court found no egregious violation of the aliens’ Fourth Amendment rights because “a reasonable officer would not have known he lacked probable cause to detain Petitioners.” Id. at 1035. In the court’s view, “the deputy sheriff, unlike the officers in Lopez-Rodriguez, was not acting against an unequivocal doctrinal backdrop.” Id.

In other words, because the “law was unclear as to whether an alien’s admission to being illegally present in the United States created probable cause to seize the alien for violating federal immigration law,” there was no egregious violation of the aliens’ Fourth Amendment rights. Id. b On the other end of the spectrum is the totality of the circumstances approach. In Olivar-Ramos, the Third Circuit criticized the Ninth Circuit’s linking of the exclusionary rule in removal cases to the qualified immunity standard. Oliva-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 277.

The court said that it could not adopt an egregiousness standard that is “perched on the fulcrum of the good faith of the police.” Id. The Third Circuit noted that the Ninth Circuit’s test would “permit conduct that may be objectively reasonable based on directives of the [DHS], but nevertheless result in routine invasions of the constitutionally protected privacy rights of individuals.” Id. Finding such a result untenable, the court in Oli-va-Ramos indicated that the egregiousness analysis “must, by its very nature, differ from an inquiry into an officer’s good faith.” Id. at 259 n. 21.

In Oliva-Ramos, the alien alleged several Fourth Amendment violations, including that the officers lacked proper consent before entering his apartment at 4:30 a.m., arrested him without probable cause or a warrant, and seized him without reasonable suspicion. Id. at 261-62. The BIA denied the alien’s request to supplement the record with new, previously unavailable evidence of widespread Fourth Amendment violations and egregious conduct, concluding that

Part V of Lopez-Mendoza was only dicta. Id. at 262-70. On the ensuing petition for review, the Third Circuit vacated the BIA’s decision and required it to reopen the proceedings so that the alien could present evidence of widespread and egregious conduct. Id. at 274-82. The court in Oliva-Ramos opined that “evidence will be the result of an egregious violation within the meaning of Lopez-Mendoza, if the record evidence establishes” that a Fourth Amendment violation that was fundamentally unfair had occurred. Id. at 278.

In setting the contours of this standard, the Olivar-Ramos court discerned “guiding principles” from the Second Circuit’s decision in Almeida-Amaral. Id. First, “courts and agencies must adopt a flexible case-by-case approach for evaluating egregiousness, based on a general .set of background principles which fulfill the two-part Lopez-Mendoza test.” Id. at 278-79. Second, fact-finders who “evaluate] the egregiousness of the violation should pay close attention to the ‘characteristics and severity of the offending conduct.’ ” Id. at 279 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

Quoting the First Circuit’s decision in Kandamar and the Eight Circuit’s decision in Puc-Ruiz, the Oliva-Ramos court explained that “ ‘evidence of any government misconduct by threats, coercion or physical abuse’ might be important considerations in evaluating egregiousness,” id. (quoting Kanda-mar, 464 F.3d at 71), and “evidence of ‘physical brutality”’ and an “‘unreasonable show or use of force’ ” also may be relevant, id. (quoting Puc-Ruiz, 629 F.3d at 778-79).

Succinctly put, the Oliva-Ra-mos court concluded that “there is no one-size-fits-all approach to determining whether a Fourth Amendment violation is egregious” and that the Supreme Court in Lopez-Mendoza did not “suggest or imply that any strict test-based approach is appropriate or warranted.” Id.

Rather, the totality of the circumstances should guide the analysis, and the court required the BIA to consider on remand factors such as: [W]hether Oliva-Ramos can establish intentional violations of the Fourth Amendment, whether the seizure itself was so gross or unreasonable in addition to being without a plausible legal ground, {e.g., when the initial illegal stop is particularly lengthy, there is an unnecessary and menacing show or use of force, etc.), whether improper seizures, illegal entry of homes, or arrests occurred under threats, coercion or physical abuse, the extent to which the agents re[s]orted to unreasonable shows of force, and finally, whether any seizures or arrests were based on race or perceived ethnicity.

Id. The court further explained that its list of factors was merely “illustrative ... and not intended as an exhaustive list of factors that should always be considered, nor is any one factor necessarily determinative of the outcome in every case. Rather, the familiar totality of the circumstances must guide the inquiry and determine its outcome.” Id. Because the court in Oliva-Ramos took “no position ... on the underlying question of whether the circumstances here are so egregious ... as to justify a suppression order,” id. at 282, it did not apply the totality of the circumstances test.

Instead, the court remanded the case to allow the alien to marshal’ evidence concerning widespread and egregious Fourth Amendment violations. Id. The Second Circuit’s case law is in line with that of the Third Circuit. In Almei-da-Amaral, a border patrol agent stopped a Brazilian national. 461 F.3d at 232. The court found a Fourth Amendment violation because the arresting agent had no legitimate basis for stopping the alien. Id. at 236. However, these facts were not sufficient to find an egregious violation requiring exclusion of the evidence obtained following the stop. Id.

The court concluded that stopping the alien without “valid reason or suspicion” constituted a Fourth Amendment violation but was not egregious because it was not “particularly lengthy” and there was no show of force. Id. According to the court, egregiousness must be gauged “based on the characteristics and severity of the offending conduct. Thus, if an individual is subjected to a seizure for no reason at . all, that by itself may constitute an egregious violation, but only if the seizure is sufficiently severe.” Id. at 235.

Thus, like the Third Circuit, the Second Circuit’s egregiousness approach involved an assessment of the totality of the' objective facts in the record. The Second Circuit followed Oliva-Ra-mos in its decision in Cotzojay. In that case, an alien from Guatemala, who was seized by ICE agents at his home in River-head, New York at approximately 4:00 a.m., asserted that his Fourth Amendment rights,- among others, had been violated and thus endeavored to exclude the evidence obtained by ICE as a result of the seizure, including a Form 1-213, his passport, and his statements to the agents. 725 F.3d at 174-77.

Of note, the agents did attempt to obtain a warrant to enter the alien’s home, and they entered the home without the alien’s consent or exigent circumstances. Id. at 174, 177. The IJ and the BIA refused to suppress the challenged evidence because the alien did not claim he was “physically threatened or harmed in the course of the nighttime, warrantless raid.” Id. at 179. On appeal, the Second Circuit vacated and remanded the case to the BIA. Id. at 184. The court first observed that it had never found a violation sufficiently severe to meet the egregious standard in a removal case. Id. at 180.

The court then moved to the uncontroversial proposition that the Fourth Amendment applies to aliens and citizens alike. Id. at 181. The court noted that, in the absence of consent or exigent circumstances, the Supreme Court has consistently held that an entry into a home to conduct a search or make an arrest is unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment unless done pursuant to a warrant. Id. In the court’s view, “if a Fourth Amendment violation is measured by what is reasonable, then an egregious violation must surely be something more than unreasonable.” Id. at 182.

In fact, the court observed that the test for egregiousness is more demanding than the test for overcoming qualified immunity. Id. at 183 n. 10. The court agreed that the Third Circuit’s list of factors may be useful for determining whether a Fourth Amendment violation is sufficiently egregious to require application of the exclusionary rule, adding that no “single aspect of a constitutional violation elevates its status from merely unreasonable to egregious.” Id. at 183.

The court observed that, although an unlawful search does not become an egregious search merely because it invades the privacy of the home, ... that government agents intrude into one’s home (versus a workplace or vehicle, for example) is an important factor in assessing the egregiousness of a Fourth Amendment violation because the home is where its protections should be at their peak. Id. (alteration, citation, and internal quotation marks omitted).

Applying the totality of the circumstances standard, the Cotzojay court held that “the deliberate, nighttime, warrant-less entry into an individual’s home, without consent and in the absence of exigent circumstances, may constitute an egregious Fourth Amendment violation regardless of whether government agents physically threaten or harm residents.” Id.

According to the court, its egregious Fourth Amendment violation holding was further supported by other objective evidence, namely, that the ICE agents “pounded” on the alien’s bedroom door following the home entry, “corralled” the alien and “other handcuffed residents in the living room,” searched the alien’s “room for desirable identification documents, informed arrestees that they could relieve themselves in a restaurant parking lot while [the agents] ate breakfast, and, in total, detained [the alien] for approximately eighteen hours.” Id. at 183-84 n. 12.

As a result, the court remanded the case for further proceedings to give the government a meaningful opportunity to show that its officers obtained consent to enter the home. Id. at 183-84. In Maldonado, the Second Circuit stressed the difficulty of establishing a pri-ma facie case of egregiousness. In that case, aliens from Ecuador were among persons gathered in a park in Danbury, Connecticut, to seek work. 763 F.3d at 158. The Danbury Police Department (DPD) and the ICE were jointly conducting an operation in that area. Id.

The aliens entered an unmarked vehicle operated by an undercover DPD officer (with the expectation that they were destined to a work-site). Id. The aliens were arrested, and their incriminating statements Before the IJ, the aliens moved to suppress the Form I-213s and to terminate the removal proceedings based on Fourth Amendment violations, arguing that the ICE agents seized them without reasonable suspicion and on the basis of their race. Id. The IJ concltided that the aliens did not make out a prima facie case and denied the motion. Id.

Following the BIA’s affirmance, the aliens sought review in the Second Circuit. Id. In denying the petition for review, the Maldonado court emphasized that a removal hearing was designed to provide a quick method of determining an alien’s eligibility to remain in the country. Id. at 159. As for the contours of the egregiousness standard, the court observed that “‘egregious’ by definition is very bad indeed.” Id. Thus, according to the court, the egregiousness standard is “stringent” and “entails a shock to the conscience.” Id.; see also id. at 165 (“Something egregious is by nature extreme, rare, and obvious.”).

Applying the totality of the circumstances standard, the court found no egregious Fourth Amendment violations. Id. at 160-63. In so holding, the court noted that the affidavit in Cotzojay was deemed to satisfy the egregiousness standard “because it averred facts that were appalling under any standard: a deliberate, nighttime, warrantless entry into an individual’s home without consent and in the absence of exigent circumstances.” Id. at 160 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

Contrasting the facts in Cotzojay to the facts before it, the court pointed out that the aliens did not allege that they were treated in a particularly severe manner and found nothing in their account suggesting that they were “gathered by the authorities, let alone that they were selected by the authorities on the basis of race.” .Id. at 161. Rather, the court declared that the aliens “self-selected on the basis of their willingness to seek and accept day labor.” Id. The Eighth Circuit’s case law is in line with that of the Second and Third Circuits.

In Puc-Ruiz, the Eighth Circuit affirmed a removal order issued by the BIA, which upheld a decision by the IJ, who refused to suppress evidence obtained following the alien’s apprehension by a local police officer. 629 F.3d at 775-83. There, the alien, a native and citizen of Mexico, was arrested at a restaurant by local police, who were responding to a tip that the restaurant was serving alcohol in violation of a municipal ordinance. Id. at 775. The police entered the restaurant without a warrant and asked the patrons to produce identification. Id.

After the alien presented his valid Missouri driver’s license, he was arrested and transported to the police station, where he was fingerprinted and detained. Id. After he was taken into ICE custody, the alien was interviewed, resulting in the preparation of a Form 1-213. Id. at 775-76. Before the IJ, the alien moved to suppress the evidence resulting from his arrest, including the Form 1-213, on the basis that his arrest violated the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 776.

On review in the Eighth Circuit, the Puc-Ruiz court held that the police conduct at issue did not rise to the level of an egregious Fourth Amendment violation. Id. at 778-79. The court acknowledged that egregious violations are not limited to those of physical brutality and cited to the principle that the lack of any valid basis whatsoever for a seizure sets the stage for egregiousness, but more than that single factor would be needed. Id. The court indicated that there was no evidence in the record that the local police employed an unreasonable show of force. Id. at 779.

It emphasized that the alien did not advance any argument that the decision to arrest him was based on race or appearance, such as to trigger an egregious violation, as has been recognized in other circuit court decisions. Id. The court considered that this was not a case in which police officers invaded private property and detained individuals with no articulable suspicion whatsoever. Id. In Martinez Carcamo, the Eighth Circuit rejected the aliens’ challenge to the IJ’s denial, and the BIA’s affirmance, of their motion to suppress. 713 F.3d at 922-26.

The motion to suppress challenged the warrantless entry into the aliens’ trailer home “[bjefore approximately” 6:00 a.m. on the basis that a warrant-less entry into a home egregiously violates the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 918. Before entering the home, the ICE agents took away one man’s cell phone while he was trying to make a call, and, after entering, pulled a blanket off another man lying in his bed. Id. at 918-19.

In upholding the denial of the motion to suppress the passports the agents obtained as a result of the warrantless entry, the court applied the totality of circumstances approach outlined in Oliva-Ramos. Id. at 923. Under that standard, the court found that the agents’ entry into the home was not an egregious Fourth amendment violation “because nothing in our previous cases indicates that an unreasonable search becomes an egregious search merely because it invades the privacy of the home.” Id. The court further found that the aliens’ allegations that they were targeted on account of their race were speculative.

Id. In Lopez-Fernandez v. Holder, the Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of a removal order issued by the BIA, which upheld a decision by the IJ, who refused to suppress evidence obtained following the aliens’ apprehension by ICE agents who went to the aliens’ home following relevant information the agents received from a named informant. 735 F.3d 1043, 1045 (8th Cir.2013). Prior to the 7:00 a.m. entry, the agents did not attempt to procure a warrant. Id. at 1044-45. Rather, they “forced” their warrantless entry after one of the aliens opened the front door. Id. at 1044.

In resolving the aliens’ Fourth Amendment claim, the court assumed the entry into the home violated the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 1046. Applying the totality of the circumstances test, the court held, citing Puc-Ruiz, Garcia-Torres, and Martinez Carcamo, that the aliens had not established that the assumed Fourth Amendment violation was sufficiently egregious to justify suppression of the government’s evidence, including Form I-213s and the aliens’ passports. Id. at 1047-48. In so holding, the court found two facts particularly relevant.

First, there was “no evidence of egregious force in the manner of entry.” Id. at 1048. Second, the search occurred in the “morning when the Petitioners were already awake, not in the middle of the night” as in Cotzojay. Id. c Our survey of the case law from the Ninth Circuit on the one hand and the Second, Third, and Eighth Circuits on the other, informs us that we should align ourselves with the Second, Third, and Eighth Circuits and apply a totality of the circumstances test.

Any analysis into the appropriate egregiousness standard should begin with the recognition that a removal hearing is intended to “provide a streamlined determination of eligibility to remain in this country, nothing more.” Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. at 1039, 104 S.Ct. 3479. As the Supreme Court noted in Lopez-Mendoza, the removal hearing system is designed to “permit the quick resolution of very large numbers of deportation actions, ... [and] [t]he prospect of even occasional invocation of the exclusionary rule might significantly change and complicate the character” of removal hearings. Id. at 1048, 104 S.Ct. 3479.

Considering the views espoused by the Supreme Court, especially its admonishment that we do not change and complicate the character of removal proceedings, it is evident that a suppression hearing in a removal proceedings is, at most, supposed to be a very rare occurrence. Cf. Maldonado, 763 F.3d at 167 (noting that invocation of the exclusionary rule in removal proceedings should not be a “common-place tactic”).

Thus, to stay faithful to the dictates of the Supreme Court, it follows that an alien’s evidentiary proffer concerning egregiousness must be high, otherwise a suppression hearing on the question of egregiousness would be commonplace, and the very heart of the Lopez-Mendoza decision would be undermined.

Cf. id. at 159 (noting that “ ‘egregious’ by definition is very bad indeed”); Garciar-Torres, 660 F.3d at 336 (noting that an egregious violation must be more than a “mere garden-variety” violation); Almeidar-Amaml, 461 F.3d at 235 (noting that, “if an individual is subjected to a seizure for no reason at all, that by itself may constitute an egregious violation, but only if the seizure is sufficiently severe” (emphasis omitted)). The Ninth Circuit’s approach requires a suppression hearing any time an alien alleges that the law enforcement officers acted in bad faith.

This sets the evidentia-ry proffer bar too low. Bad faith allegations often are difficult to resolve without an evidentiary hearing because the outcome turns on the subjective motivations of the law enforcement officers. It is easy to see how the bad faith standard can be manipulated by clever lawyers and encourages aliens to file frivolous improper motivation claims. Thus, we see the Ninth Circuit’s standard as stymieing, rather than promoting, the streamlined nature of the removal hearing process as recognized by the Court in Lopez-Mendoza.

Relatedly, the Ninth Circuit’s standard runs the risk of routinely requiring the arresting law enforcement officer to appear at a suppression hearing to testify concerning motivation, which the Court noted in Lopez-Mendoza would unacceptably burden the administration of the immigration laws. 468 U.S. at 1049,104 S.Ct. 3479. The Ninth Circuit’s standard is inconsistent with Lopez-Mendoza on another front.

The cases cited by the Lopez-Mendoza Court in support of the egregiousness exception, in particular Rochin, turned on the conduct of the law enforcement officers not on the knowledge or intent of the law enforcement officers. The Court in Rochin did not resolve the case on the basis of what the law enforcement officers knew or intended, but rather what they did — they forcibly arrested the defendant and obtained inculpatory evidence without his consent by forcing a tube down his throat to pump his stomach. 342 U.S. at 166, 72 S.Ct. 205.

Thus, the outcome of the egregiousness inquiry does not solely turn on the knowledge or intent of law enforcement officers, though intent may be one among other relevant factors. See Olivar-Ramos, 694 F.3d at 279 (noting that intent may be one among many other factors to be considered under the totality of the circumstances). Yet, the Ninth Circuit’s standard permits the application of the exclusionary rule in a removal proceeding any time law enforcement officers knowingly or intend to violate the Fourth Amendment regardless of the severity of their conduct.

Eliminating the severity of the law enforcement officers’ conduct essentially guts the definition of egregiousness envisioned by the Court in Lopez-Mendoza. Cf. Martinez Carcamo, 713 F.3d at 923 (“We decline to allow the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens or aliens to turn on a federal agent’s personal state of mind.”). The Ninth Circuit’s approach faces another obstacle as well. As noted by the court in Olivar-Ramos, the Ninth Circuit’s approach allows law enforcement officers a free pass any time they unconstitutionally act pursuant, to an agency regulation. 694 F.3d at 277.

Such a standard makes little sense because potentially it permits “routine invasions of the constitutionally protected privacy rights of individuals,” id., by allowing law enforcement officers to invade such interests pursuant to an agency regulation that permits unconstitutional conduct. In our view, the sounder egregiousness approach is the totality of the circumstances standard as applied in the Second, Third, and Eighth Circuits. This standard is a flexible case-by-case standard, taking into account a variety of factors. Id.

It allows the court to examine all of the facts it deems relevant to the egregiousness inquiry and focuses on the unreasonableness of the conduct of the law enforcement officers. Id. at 276, 278.

Factors a court may consider include: (1) whether the Fourth Amendment violation was intentional; (2) whether, the violation was unreasonable in addition to being illegal; (3) whether there were threats, coercion, physical abuse, promises, or an unreasonable show of force by the law enforcement officers; (4) whether there was no articula-ble suspicion for the search or seizure whatsoever; (5) where, when, and how the search, seizure or questioning took place; (6) whether the search, seizure, or questioning was particularly lengthy; (7) whether the law enforcement officers procured an arrest or search warrant; (8) any unique characteristics of the alien involved; and (9) whether the violation was based on racial considerations.

Maldonado, 763 F,3d at 159-60; Oliva-Ra-mos, 694 F.3d at 279; Puc-Ruiz, 629 F.3d at 779; Kandamar, 464 F.3d at 71. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, as there is “no one-size-fits-all approach to determining whether a Fourth Amendment violation is egregious.” Olivad-Ra-mos, 694 F.3d at 279. The facts of each case will dictate the relevant factors for consideration. Importantly, the alien’s evidence, in its totality, must support a basis to suppress the challenged evidence under a finding of egregiousness, even at the prima facie case stage.

Such evidence cannot be based on intuition or speculation, especially as it relates to the intent of law enforcement officers. See Maldonado, 763 F.3d at 161 (noting the danger of vague “improper motivation” allegations); Lopez-Gabriel v. Holder, 653 F.3d 683, 686 (8th Cir.2011) (no suppression hearing required where the alien stated only that he “feels” the police stopped him because of his race, and he “believe[d]” the police treated him differently than they would “treat white people”).

Suppression hearings should .be the exception, not the rule in removal proceedings, so the alien’s evidentiary burden, even at the prima facie case stage, is high. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. at 1049-50, 104 S.Ct. 3479. E With the appropriate standard set forth, we can proceed to address the substance of Yanez’s Fourth Amendment claims. 1 Yanez raises three Fourth Amendment particularity claims. First, she claims that the search warrant was invalid because it identified the Premises as a single-family home when it was, in fact, a multi-unit dwelling.

Alternatively, she claims that, once the agents entered the Premises, they should have realized that the Premises was a multi-unit dwelling, and, at that point, they should have stopped the search immediately because the warrant was overbroad. Finally, she claims the ICE agents were required to list her as an item to be seized in the warrant. We reject these claims for the simple reason that they do not make out a constitutional violation, let alone an egregious one.

The Fourth Amendment provides that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S. Const, amend. IV. The requirement for particularity “ensures that the search will be carefully tailored to its justifications, and will not take on the character of the wide-ranging explorator

[…]