Contreras-Ruano

Contreras-Ruano v. Gonzales

Good Law
150 F. App'x 738
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitOctober 19, 2005No. 04-72484; Agency No. A90-557-119California236 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Mario Rene Contreras-Ruano, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his applications for adjustment of status, cancellation of removal, and voluntary departure. We dismiss the petition for review.

Contreras-Ruano presents two due process claims in his petition for review. We lack jurisdiction to review his contention that the IJ failed to independently analyze the merits of the application for adjustment of status, because it is not a colorable due process claim. See Torres-Aguilar v. INS, 246 F.3d 1267, 1271 (9th Cir.2001) (“... petitioner may not creaté the jurisdiction that Congress chose to re *739 move simply by cloaking an abuse of discretion argument in constitutional garb.”).

Although Contreras-Ruano’s contention that the IJ was biased does present a colorable due process claim, we lack jurisdiction to review it because Contreras-Ruano did not exhaust that claim before the BIA. See Sanchez-Cruz v. INS, 255 F.3d 775, 780 (9th Cir.2001). Contreras-Ruano’s allegations before the BIA that the IJ assigned too much weight to…

Sign in to read the full opinion

Create a free account to read the complete opinion text, citation history, and good-law status for this case.