Alonzo Valenzuela v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Alonzo Israel Valenzuela, a native of Mexico and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s (BIA) denial of relief from removal and refusal to remand for consideration of an application for adjustment of status. We have jurisdiction to under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a) and we deny the petition.

Petitioner was ordered removed to Mexico under Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) § 237(a)(2)(A)(iii), 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(A)(iii), on the basis of a 1994 felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, Cal.Penal Code § 245(a)(1). The Immigration Judge (IJ) found Petitioner ineligible for discretionary waiver of removal under former INA § 212(c), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (c) (repealed 1996), because the basis for his removal, a crime of violence aggravated felony, has no comparable ground of inadmissibility in INA § 212(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a), as required by 8 C.F.R. § 1212.3 (f)(5), the “statutory counterpart” rule. The BIA affirmed. It also rejected Petitioner’s motion to remand. This petition for review followed.

We review questions of law and constitutional claims de novo. Khan v. Holder, 584 F.3d…