Cortez-Pineda

Mateo Cortez-Pineda petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications for special rule cancellation of removal, asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny the petition.

I

Cortez-Pineda, born in 1955, is a native and citizen of El Salvador. The government initiated removal proceedings against Cortez-Pineda in December 2005 with the filing of a Notice to Appear. It alleged that Cortez-Pineda entered the United States on or about June 1, 1990, and that he was removable as an alien present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled. Cortez-Pineda admitted the allegations and conceded removability, but sought special rule cancellation of removal under section 203 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (“NACARA”), which extends eligibility for relief from removal to Salvadoran nationals who, among other requirements not at issue here, “first entered the United States on or before September 19, 1990.” Pub.L.…