Bolorsukh Munkhtumur v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

In these consolidated petitions for review, Bolorsukh Munkhtumur petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying her application for asylum and Mun-khtumur and her husband, Baatartsogt Erdenetsetseg, petition for review of the BIA’s order denying their motion to reopen removal proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny the petitions for review.

In her petition for review of the BIA’s order dismissing her appeal, Munkhtumur contends that she was persecuted on the basis of her membership in a family, which is a social group. However, she did not exhaust this argument before the immigration judge and the BIA, and we therefore do not have jurisdiction to consider this argument. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 678 (9th Cir.2004) (holding that 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (d)(1) mandates exhaustion and bars this court from reaching the merits of a legal claim not presented in administrative proceedings). In addition, by failing to challenge the BIA’s rulings rejecting the nexus arguments raised in the administrative proceedings, she has waived those issues…