Francisco Garcia Gomez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Francisco Javier Garcia Gomez and Graciela Arellano Ramirez, natives and citizens of Mexico, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing their appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying their motion to reopen removal proceedings. Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, Celis-Castellano v. Ashcroft, 298 F.3d 888, 889 (9th Cir.2002), and review de novo whether the agency applied a correct standard of law, Kawashima v. Holder, 615 F.3d 1043 , 1057 n. 8 (9th Cir.2010). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

The agency did not abuse its discretion by denying petitioners’ motion to reopen on the ground that a miscommunication between them and their prior attorney did not constitute an exceptional circumstance that would excuse their failure to appear at their removal hearing. - See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(e)(1) (defining “exceptional circumstances” as circumstances “beyond the control of the alien”); see also Farhoud v. INS, 122 F.3d 794, 796 (9th Cir.1997) (finding that a petitioner’s failure to “actually and personally receive the notice of…