Avakimyan
Avakimyan v. Gonzales
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Hayk Avakimyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) summary affirmance of an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his motion to reopen proceedings based on new evidence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, Konstantinova v. INS, 195 F.3d 528, 529 (9th Cir.1999). We review due process claims de novo. Colmenar v. INS, 210 F.3d 967, 971 (9th Cir.2000). We deny the petition for review.
*595 The IJ did not abuse his discretion in denying Avakimyan’s motion to reopen because Avakimyan failed to show that his passport was unavailable at the time of his merits hearing. See INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 323 , 112 S.Ct. 719 , 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992) (holding that a motion to reopen may be denied for failure to introduce previously unavailable evidence). The IJ granted Avakimyan two continuances totaling over one year so that Avakimyan could obtain identity documents and Avakimyan could not provide a consistent explanation for his inability to produce any identity documents within that period of time.