Acosta-Montejo

MEMORANDUM **

Amalio Acosta-Montejo, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his application for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction to review purely legal determinations, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252 ; Montero-Martinez v. Ashcroft, 277 F.3d 1137, 1144 (9th Cir.2002), and we review de novo, Torres-Aguilar v. INS, 246 F.3d 1267, 1271 (9th Cir.2001). We deny the petition for review.

Petitioner contends that being put into removal proceedings rather than deportation proceedings deprived him of the opportunity to apply for suspension of deportation relief and thereby violated equal protection. This contention lacks merit.

Petitioner must show that the classification that caused him to be placed into removal proceedings is wholly irrational to succeed on his equal protection challenge. See Hernandez-Mezquita v. Ashcroft, 293 F.3d 1161, 1163 (9th Cir.2002). The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) replaced “suspension of deportation” with the more restrictive “cancellation of removal” for aliens…