Julio Medina-Herrera v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Julio Enrique Medina-Herrera, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reconsider and to reopen proceedings conducted in absentia. Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reconsider and reopen, and review de novo questions of law. Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir.2005). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

The BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying Medina-Herrera’s motion to reconsider, where the motion failed to allege any error of law or fact in the BIA’s prior order denying his earlier motion to reopen, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (b)(1) (“A motion to reconsider shall state the reasons for the motion by specifying the errors of fact or law in the prior [BIA] decision and shall be supported by pertinent authority.”), and was based solely on new legal arguments that could have been raised in his previous motion, see Mohammed, 400 F.3d at 792 n. 8 (“a motion to reconsider does not present new law or facts, but rather challenges determinations of law and fact made by the…