Ortega-Lopez

MEMORANDUM ****

Petitioner, Manuel Enrique Ortega-Lopez, a native and citizen of Nicaragua, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals summarily affirming a deportation order entered by an Immigration Judge (“IJ”). The IJ found Petitioner deportable as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony under § 241(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a)(2)(A)(iii) (now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(A)(iii)), and as an alien convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct under INA § 241(a)(2)(A)(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1251 (a)(2)(A)(ii) (now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(A)(ii)). The IJ also found Petitioner ineligible for relief under § 209(c) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1159 (c), or withholding of deportation.

Because the deportation proceedings against Petitioner were pending before April 1, 1997, and the final agency order of deportation was entered after October 30, 1996, the transitional rules of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) apply to this case. See, e.g., Kalaio v. INS, 133 F.3d 1147, 1150 (9th…