Lucero Mendez v. Gonzales

MEMORANDUM ***

*943 Paulino Bartolo Lucero Mendez and Feliz Reyes-Salos, natives and citizens of Mexico, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing their appeal and denying their motion to remand. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review questions of law de novo, Ladha v. INS, 215 F.3d 889, 896 (9th Cir.2000), and the BIA’s denial of a motion to remand for abuse of discretion, Malhi v. INS, 336 F.3d 989, 993 (9th Cir.2003). We deny the petition for review.

Petitioners did not comply with the requirements of Matter of Lozada, 19 I. & N. Dec. 637 (BIA 1988) when setting forth their ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Although we have not always required strict adherence to Lozada where ineffective assistance of counsel is apparent from the record, see Castillo-Perez v. INS, 212 F.3d 518, 526 (9th Cir.2000), the record, including an undated contract for services with La Guadalupana, does not establish that La Guadalupana represented Petitioners at the time of their removal hearing. Further, Petitioners did not demonstrate prejudice as a result of the alleged ineffective assistance because they did not establish that…