Gerardo Cruz-Sanchez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Gerardo Cruz-Sanchez seeks review of an immigration judge’s (IJ’s) 2004 order of removal based on the alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) upheld the IJ’s order in 2005 and again on remand in 2011.

We may review decisions of the BIA only insofar as appellants properly raised their claims before that board. See Vargas v. U.S. Dep’t of Immigration & Naturalization, 831 F.2d 906, 907-08 (9th Cir.1987) (“Failure to raise an issue in an appeal to the BIA constitutes a failure to exhaust remedies with respect to that question and deprives this court of jurisdiction to hear the matter.”). By the same token, claims raised before the BIA but not pursued before this court are also forfeited. See Castro-Martinez v. Holder, 674 F.3d 1073, 1082-83 (9th Cir.2011) (holding that the petitioner had forfeited his claim before this court by failing to raise the BIA’s denial of that claim in his opening brief).

A petitioner seeking to prevail on an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim related to a removal proceeding must show that (a) his attorney failed to represent him competently, and (b) he had “plausible grounds for relief’…