Ramirez Mata v. Holder
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Saulo Roberto Ramirez Mata, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen to apply for a section 212(c) waiver pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.44 . Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review de novo questions of law, Cerezo v. Mukasey, 512 F.3d 1163, 1166 (9th Cir.2008), and we deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.
Ramirez Mata’s equal protection challenge fails because he was convicted by plea agreement in February 1997 and is therefore not similarly situated to those permanent resident aliens who retroactively became aggravated felons. See Dillingham v. INS, 267 F.3d 996, 1007 (9th Cir.2001) (to succeed on an equal protection challenge, the petitioner must establish that his treatment differed from that of similarly situated persons).
The BIA did not err in refusing to consider Ramirez Mata’s challenge to his underlying removal order in the context of a special motion to reopen to apply for a section 212(c) waiver. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.44 (e) (“Proceedings shall be reopened under this section solely for adjudicating the application for 212(c)…