Maria Sarabia v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Maria Noemi Sarabia, a native and citizen of Colombia, petitions pro se for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing her appeal from a decision of an immigration judge (“IJ”) denying her motion to continue her removal proceedings. Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to continue. Sandoval-Luna v. Mukasey, 526 F.3d 1243, 1246 (9th Cir.2008) (per curiam). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

The agency did not abuse its discretion by denying Sarabia’s motion to continue to await adjudication of an immigrant visa petition that her daughter had filed on her behalf, because Sarabia did not demonstrate good cause for a continuance. See Singh v. Holder, 638 F.3d 1264, 1274 (9th Cir.2011) (“[A]n IJ ‘may grant a motion for continuance for good cause shown.’ ” (citation omitted)). The IJ had previously granted Sarabia eleven continuances for this purpose, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had issued a notice of intent to deny the visa petition based on reliable evidence that Sarabia had engaged in marriage fraud. See Matter of Hashmi, 24…