Matul

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner Eduardo Domingo Renoj Matul, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) denial of his motions to reopen and to reconsider. Matul argues that the BIA should have granted his motions to administratively close his deportation proceedings because he was eligible for “repapering” 1 under C.F.R. *637 § 240.81(a)(2) and IIRIRA § 309(c)(3). He further argues that the BIA abused its administrative discretion in failing to close his proceedings sua sponte. We affirm.

The BIA did not err in declining to reopen Matul’s deportation proceeding because, as Matul concedes, the BIA had already issued a final administrative decision. Paragraph 309(c) of IIRIRA grants the Attorney General discretion to terminate deportation proceedings and to reinitiate removal proceedings, a process known as “repapering,” only in those cases “in which there has not been a final administrative decision.” Pub. Law No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (1996).

We lack jurisdiction to review Matul’s argument that the BIA should have exercised its sua sponte authority to reopen the proceedings. See Ekimian v. I.N.S., 303 F.3d 1153 (9th…