Lopez

MEMORANDUM **

Jorge Luis Robles Lopez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of *911 the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA’s”) summary affirmance of an Immigration Judge’s order denying his request for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review constitutional claims de novo, see Jimenez-Angeles v. Ashcroft, 291 F.3d 594, 599 (9th Cir.2002), and we deny the petition.

Lopez contends that the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act of 1997 (“NA-CARA”) violates the equal protection clause because it irrationally distinguishes between aliens from Mexico and other Central American countries. Lopez has not met this burden because a rational basis exists for distinguishing between groups of aliens from Mexico and those of other Central American countries based on conditions in their homelands. See Jimenez-Angeles, 291 F.3d at 597 . Moreover, we have specifically held that NACARA section 203 does not violate equal protection. See Ram v. INS, 243 F.3d 510, 517 (9th Cir.2001) (Congress’s decision to favor aliens from specific war-torn countries “stems from a rational diplomatic decision to encourage such aliens to remain in the…