Background
Cipriano Contreras-Lopez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order. The order upheld an Immigration Judge’s refusal to accept a motion to terminate and suppress evidence as untimely and declined to reopen proceedings sua sponte. The petitioner argued that filing deadlines should have reset when his case was transferred from the detained docket to the non-detained docket.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that the petitioner forfeited his challenge to the Board’s waiver finding by not engaging with it on appeal. The court further found that the petitioner waived his challenge to the Immigration Judge’s timeliness ruling because he did not object before the judge. Even assuming the issue was not waived, the court found the argument meritless as the Immigration Judge expressly stated deadlines would apply to the new docket. Regarding the request to reopen, the court stated that the Board’s decision is purely discretionary and the court lacks jurisdiction to review it, except for limited legal or constitutional error. The Board correctly recognized its discretion and declined to exercise it, placing the review outside the court’s limited jurisdiction.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that procedural objections must be raised before the Immigration Judge to avoid waiver and limits judicial review of the Board’s discretionary authority to reopen cases sua sponte.
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