Alejandro Lopez Vazquez v. Merrick Garland

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ALEJANDRO LOPEZ VAZQUEZ, No. 18-70329 Petitioner, Agency No. v. A074-608-073

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, OPINION Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Department of Homeland Security

Argued and Submitted August 12, 2021 Seattle, Washington

Filed November 12, 2021

Before: Carlos T. Bea, Daniel A. Bress, and Lawrence VanDyke, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Bress SUMMARY *

Immigration

Dismissing Alejandro Lopez Vazquez’s petition for review of a 2017 Department of Homeland Security order reinstating his 1996 removal order, the panel concluded that Lopez’s 1996 order had a valid basis both when it was issued and when he was removed, and therefore, he failed to establish a miscarriage of justice that would permit the court to entertain a collateral attack on the 1996 order.

Lopez collaterally attacked his 1996 order on the ground that the drug conviction underlying that order was vacated in 2014. It was undisputed that Lopez’s conviction was legally valid at the time his original…