Prides Medina v. Ashcroft

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JOSE PRIDES MEDINA,  No. 03-71966 Petitioner, v.  Agency No.

A35-116-817

JOHN ASHCROFT, Attorney General,

OPINION

Respondent.  On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Argued and Submitted November 3, 2004—San Francisco, California

Filed January 4, 2005

Before: William C. Canby, Jr., Pamela Ann Rymer, and Michael Daly Hawkins, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Canby; Dissent by Judge Rymer COUNSEL

Vicenta E. Montoya, Las Vegas, Nevada, for the petitioner.

Susan K. Houser, Jennifer Levings, Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, D.C., for the respondent.

OPINION

CANBY, Circuit Judge:

Jose Valdes Medina1 is a permanent resident of this coun- try, having been admitted as an immigrant from Cuba in 1976. He petitions for review of an order of removal entered by an immigration judge (IJ) and affirmed without opinion by a sin- gle member of the Board of Immigration Appeals.2 The IJ

1 Petitioner informed the Board that he had never used any name other than Jose Valdes…