Josue Blanco Maldonado v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Josué Blanco Maldonado, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) that denied his appeal from a decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) that denied his motion to reconsider the denial of his motion to reopen. We deny the petition for review.

Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . ‘We review BIA rulings on motions to reopen and reconsider for abuse of discretion and reverse only if the Board acted arbitrarily, irrationally, or contrary to law.” Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791 (9th Cir. 2005) (citations omitted). The agency did not abuse its discretion by denying Maldonado’s appeal, where his motion to reconsider failed to establish any error of law or fact with respect to the denial of the motion to reopen for his failure to comply with the threshold requirements of Matter of Lozada, 19 I. & N. Dec. 637 (BIA 1988). See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23 (b)(2).

“[W]e have dispensed with the Lozada obligations where counsel’s ineffective assistance was obvious and undisputed on the face of the record.” Reyes v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 592, 597 (9th Cir. 2004) (citations omitted). We have also held that…