Ignacio Lopez-Ruiz v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General
Opinion
Opinion
ORDER
Ignacio Lopez-Ruiz timely appealed to this court the BIA’s decision to affirm an order for his removal. Lopez-Ruiz’ substantive argument is that his drug-related criminal conviction in 1998 was not for an aggravated felony. The 1998 California conviction, which formed the only basis for Lopez-Ruiz’ removal, has since been vacated. On April 29, 2002, the BIA granted a motion to reopen and remanded to the Immigration Judge (IJ) so that the IJ could consider the pertinence, if any, to his immigration case of the vacating of Lopez-Ruiz’ sentence.
Lopez-Ruiz asks us to hold his appeal in abeyance pending a new administrative decision by the BIA. The government asks us to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
The BIA’s granting of the motion to reopen means there is no longer a final decision to review. This court only reviews final orders of removal. See, e.g., 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252 (a)(1), 1252(b)(1). In Escobar Ruiz v. INS, 838 F.2d 1020, 1022 (9th Cir.1988), overruled on other grounds by Ardestani v. INS, 502 U.S. 129 , 112 S.Ct. 515 , 116 L.Ed.2d 496 (1991), for example, we dismissed a petition for review as moot where the BIA ordered deportation proceedings reopened following oral…