Singh-Toor

MEMORANDUM ***

Jasmeer Singh Toor, a native and citizen of India, seeks review of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his motion to reopen the deportation proceedings and the BIA’s denial of his motion for reconsideration. The IJ denied Toor’s motion to reopen because the motion was untimely and tolling was inappropriate. The BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision without opinion. The BIA also denied Toor’s untimely motion to reconsider. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105 (a), and we deny the petition. ****

We review the denial of a motion to reopen and the denial of a motion to reconsider for abuse of discretion. See Watkins v. INS, 63 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir.1995); see Cano-Merida v. INS, 311 F.3d 960, 964 (9th Cir.2002). Because the BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision without opinion, the IJ’s opinion is reviewed as if it were the BIA’s opinion. See Singh-Kaur v. INS, 183 F.3d 1147, 1150 (9th Cir.1999).

A. Regulation Violation

Absent overriding justification, an alien must exhaust his administrative remedies prior to seeking review of a deportation order. In our discretion, however, we may consider an issue not raised below if the issue is purely one of law, does not affect…