Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca3-14-03829/USCOURTS-ca3-14-03829-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Attorney General United States of America
Respondent
Enrique Cazarez-Barragan
Petitioner

Document Text:

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PS5-054 NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 14-3829

___________

ENRIQUE CAZAREZ-BARRAGAN,

Petitioner

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

 Respondent

____________________________________

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

(Agency No. A090-106-020)

Immigration Judge: Honorable Walter A. Durling

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

February 17, 2015

Before: CHAGARES, JORDAN and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: February19, 2015)

___________

OPINION*

___________

 

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not 

constitute binding precedent.

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PER CURIAM

Pro se petitioner Enrique Cazarez-Barragan petitions for review of the Board of 

Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen/reconsider. We will 

dismiss the petition for review in part and deny it in part.

I.

Cazarez-Barragan is a native and citizen of Mexico. He arrived in the United 

States with his parents in 1980, when he was ten months old, and he became a lawful 

permanent resident in 1989. In 2006, the United States District Court for the Western 

District of Missouri convicted him of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of 

methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), and 846. He was 

sentenced to 235 months’ imprisonment. In August 2007, the Department of Homeland 

Security issued a Notice to Appear, charging Cazarez-Barragan as removable for having 

been convicted of an aggravated felony and a controlled substance offense. 

At Cazarez-Barragan’s April 2008 removal hearing, an immigration judge (“IJ”) 

determined that he was removable as charged and that he was ineligible for any relief 

from removal. In July 2008, the BIA rejected Cazarez-Barragan’s appeal, and he did not 

seek this Court’s review of that order. Rather, in April 2014, he moved the BIA to 

reopen his proceedings so that he could submit transcripts from his criminal proceedings. 

On June 26, 2014, the BIA denied the motion as untimely and meritless, and CazarezBarragan did not file a petition for review. 

Then, on July 21, 2014, Cazarez-Barragan filed a motion with the BIA challenging 

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the 2008 order of removal. He asserted that he was eligible for a waiver of 

inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h), and that the IJ had violated his due process 

rights by not advising him that he was eligible for this relief. The BIA denied the motion 

on August 26, 2014. It held that, to the extent Cazarez-Barragan sought reconsideration 

of its June 26th decision, he failed to identify “any error of law or fact” in that order, 

(A.R. at 2), and thus did not establish that reconsideration was warranted. The BIA then 

construed the motion as a motion to reopen, determining that it was untimely and 

declining to sua sponte reopen the proceedings. Finally, the BIA stated that a § 1182(h) 

waiver was not “available to waive inadmissibility arising from a federal conviction for 

conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.” (Id.) 

Cazarez-Barragan now petitions for review of the BIA’s August 26, 2014 order. 

III.

As a preliminary matter, we note that Cazarez-Barragan has failed to raise any 

arguments relating to the BIA’s treatment of his motion as a motion to reconsider. Nor 

has Cazarez-Barragan raised any challenge to the BIA’s treatment of the motion as an 

untimely motion to reopen. Accordingly, those issues have been waived. See Bradley v. 

Att’y Gen., 603 F.3d 235, 243 n.8 (3d Cir. 2010). 

Cazarez-Barragan focuses instead on his argument that he is eligible for a waiver 

of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h). We construe this as a challenge to the BIA’s 

decision not to sua sponte reopen his removal proceedings. The BIA held that CazarezBarragan had not “demonstrate[d] an exceptional situation that would warrant” the sua 

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sponte reopening of the proceedings and that a waiver under § 1182(h) was not available 

where the petitioner had a federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute 

methamphetamine. (A.R. at 2.)

As the Government asserts, we generally lack jurisdiction to review the BIA’s 

discretionary decision denying sua sponte reopening. See Calle-Vujiles v. Ashcroft, 320 

F.3d 472, 475 (3d Cir. 2003). We may, however, consider whether the BIA’s decision 

“is based on a false legal premise.” Pllumi v. Att’y Gen., 642 F.3d 155, 160 (3d Cir. 

2011). To the extent that Cazarez-Barragan’s merits brief could be liberally construed as 

raising such a claim, we conclude that this claim is meritless. The BIA did not err in 

stating that Cazarez-Barragan was ineligible for a § 1182(h) waiver, as such a waiver is 

not available to persons who have been convicted of a controlled substance offense other 

than one involving simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana. See 8 U.S.C. § 

1182(h). Cazarez-Barragan does not dispute that he was convicted of engaging in a 

conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Accordingly, the BIA’s 

decision not to exercise its sua sponte discretion was not based on an error of law, and we 

otherwise lack jurisdiction to review the reasoning behind its refusal to reopen CazarezBarragan’s removal proceedings.1

 See Pllumi, 642 F.3d at 160.

We therefore will dismiss the petition for review in part and deny it in part. 

 

1 To the extent we have jurisdiction to review Cazarez-Barragan’s remaining arguments, 

they are meritless. 

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