CHAVEZ TORRES v. BARR (2019)

MEMORANDUM **

Eladio Federico Chavez Torres, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his motion to reopen removal proceedings conducted in absentia. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen. Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir. 2005). We deny the petition for review.

The agency did not abuse its discretion in denying Chavez Torres’s motion to reopen for failure to establish exceptional circumstances, where he arrived at the immigration court 53 minutes late due to traffic delays and parking difficulties, and the IJ had concluded the hearing and left the bench before Chavez Torres arrived. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23(b)(4)(ii); 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(e)(1) (defining exceptional circumstances as circumstances beyond the control of the alien); Sharma v. INS, 89 F.3d 545, 547 (9th Cir. 1996) (no exceptional circumstance where petitioner arrived at the deportation hearing between 45 minutes and 1 hour late due to traffic congestion and trouble finding parking); Arredondo v. Lynch, 824 F.3d 801, 806 (9th Cir. 2016) (no exceptional circumstance where petitioner experienced mechanical failure of her car on the way to court).

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.