Sigfredo Bonila-Cortez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Sigfredo Alexander Bonila-Cortez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his motion to reopen removal proceedings conducted in absentia. 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 constitutional claims. Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir.2005). We deny the petition for review.

The BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying Bonila-Cortez’s motion to reopen as untimely where it was filed nearly four and a half years after his order of removal, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23 (b)(4)(h) (an alien seeking to reopen and rescind an in absen-tia removal order based on exceptional circumstances must file the motion within 180 days), and Bonila-Cortez failed to establish that he qualified for equitable tolling of the filing deadline, see Avagyan v. Holder, 646 F.3d 672, 678-80 (9th Cir.2011) (equitable tolling is available to a petitioner who establishes that he suffered from deception, fraud or error, and exercised due diligence in…