Alejandro Hernandez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Alejandro Hernandez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, and review de novo due process claims. Iturribarria v. INS, 321 F.3d 889, 894 (9th Cir.2003). We deny the petition for review.

Hernandez failed to raise, and therefore waived, any challenge to the BIA’s denial of his motion to reopen based on ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to comply with the procedural requirements in Matter of Lozada, 19 I. & N. Dec. 637 (BIA 1988). See Rizk v. Holder, 629 F.3d 1083 , 1091 n. 3 (9th Cir.2011) (a petitioner waives an issue by failing to raise it in his or her opening brief).

Because Hernandez’s ineffective assistance claim was not successful, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to reopen, construed as a motion based on new evidence, on the ground that Hernandez did not show that the psychological evaluation could not have been obtained and presented.at the time of the merits hearing. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (c) (“A motion to…