Byron Maradiaga v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Byron A. Maradiaga, a native and citizen of Nicaragua, petitions for review the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) removal order. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review de novo questions of law, including constitutional claims. Vargas-Hernandez v. Gonzales, 497 F.3d 919, 921-22 (9th Cir.2007). We deny the petition for review.

The record does not support Maradia-ga’s claim that the IJ violated his due process rights by exhibiting bias, because the proceedings were not so fundamentally unfair that he was prevented from reasonably presenting his case, and because he failed to demonstrate prejudice. See id. at 926 (requiring a petitioner alleging IJ bias to show that the IJ harbored a “deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible”); see also id. (requiring prejudice to prevail on a due process claim). Because “the factual record adequately supports the denial of [Maradiaga’s] application for relief, we cannot find that the alleged bias held by the IJ was the basis for the denial of the application.” Id.

Although two of Maradiaga’s merits hearings were interrupted…