Chavez

MEMORANDUM

Hugo Alexander Chavez petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of his motion to reopen pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.44 . For the reasons stated below, we affirm the BIA’s denial of Chavez’s motion to reopen.

Chavez is a native and citizen of El Salvador and a lawful permanent resident of the United States. In 1993, Chavez was convicted of grand theft auto under California Penal Code § 487.3. Three years later, in 1996, Chavez was convicted by guilty plea of possession of a controlled substance under California Health & Safety Code § 11350.

In 1997, an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) found Chavez deportable under former Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 241(a)(2)(B)© because of his controlled substance conviction, and on the basis that his grand theft auto conviction amounted to an “aggravated felony” under former INA § 241(a)(2)(A)(iii). In 1998, after Chavez withdrew all applications for relief from deportation, the IJ ordered Chavez deported. Chavez appealed to the BIA on the grounds that he should have been given some form of relief and that the IJ gave the new aggravated felony definition impermissible retroactive effect. In 2003,…