Filed: Feb. 10, 2016
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-1628 MAURICIO TURCIOS BONILLA, a/k/a Maricio Turcios, a/k/a Mauricio Bonilla Turcios, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: January 13, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016 Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and KING and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion. Clifton S. Elgarten, Jared A. Lev
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-1628 MAURICIO TURCIOS BONILLA, a/k/a Maricio Turcios, a/k/a Mauricio Bonilla Turcios, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: January 13, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016 Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and KING and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion. Clifton S. Elgarten, Jared A. Levi..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-1628
MAURICIO TURCIOS BONILLA, a/k/a Maricio Turcios, a/k/a
Mauricio Bonilla Turcios,
Petitioner,
v.
LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration
Appeals.
Submitted: January 13, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016
Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and KING and THACKER, Circuit
Judges.
Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Clifton S. Elgarten, Jared A. Levine, CROWELL & MORING LLP,
Washington, D.C., for Petitioner. Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Cindy S. Ferrier, Assistant
Director, Keith I. McManus, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of
Immigration Litigation, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
Washington, D.C., for Respondent.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM
Mauricio Turcios Bonilla, a native and citizen of El
Salvador, petitions for review of an order of the Board of
Immigration Appeals dismissing his appeal from the immigration
judge’s denial of Bonilla’s application for special rule
cancellation of removal under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and
Central American Relief Act (“NACARA”). * In his brief, Bonilla
asserts that the agency violated his right to due process by
relying on FBI documents reporting his criminal history to find
that Bonilla had two convictions for crimes involving moral
turpitude and conclude that he was “inadmissible” under 8 U.S.C.
§ 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) (2012), and thus ineligible for
cancellation of removal under the NACARA. See 8 C.F.R.
§ 1240.66(b)(1) (2015) (mandating that, to establish eligibility
for NACARA relief, the alien must establish that he is “not
inadmissible under section 212(a)(2) . . . of the [Immigration
and Nationality] Act”).
The NACARA provides that “[a] determination by the Attorney
General as to whether an alien satisfies the requirements of
*
Pub. L. No. 105-100, 111 Stat. 2160, 2193-2201 (1997),
amended by Pub. L. No. 105-139, 111 Stat. 2644, 2644-45 (1997)
(codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C.). “Under
NACARA, certain nationals from Guatemala, El Salvador, and
former Soviet bloc countries may apply for suspension of
deportation or special rule cancellation of removal.” Pastora
v. Holder,
737 F.3d 902, 905 (4th Cir. 2013) (footnote omitted).
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[NACARA eligibility] is final and shall not be subject to review
by any court.” NACARA § 203(a)(1)(C)(ii) (Pub. L. No. 105-100,
111 Stat. 2160, 2197-98). This court has recognized that 8
U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D) (2012), the statutory exception to the
jurisdiction-stripping provision in 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)
(2012), applies in NACARA cases, and thus we have jurisdiction
to review only constitutional claims or questions of law arising
from the denial of that relief. See De Leon v. Holder,
761 F.3d
336, 339 (4th Cir. 2014) (“Congress has strictly limited our
jurisdiction to review the Attorney General’s resolution of
NACARA applications.”); Barahona v. Holder,
691 F.3d 349, 353
(4th Cir. 2012) (recognizing limitations on this court’s review
of an agency ruling on a NACARA application).
The grant of NACARA relief “is not a matter of right under
any circumstances but rather is in all cases a matter of grace
to be determined by the Attorney General.” De
Leon, 761 F.3d at
339 (internal quotation marks omitted). Under Dekoladenu v.
Gonzales,
459 F.3d 500, 508 (4th Cir. 2006), abrogated on other
grounds by Dada v. Mukasey,
554 U.S. 1 (2008), a due process
claim cannot stand when the underlying relief is entirely a
matter of discretion because, under such circumstances, the
alien has neither a liberty nor property interest in the relief
he seeks. See also Smith v. Ashcroft,
295 F.3d 425, 429-30 (4th
Cir. 2002) (holding that alien’s lack of a “protected liberty or
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property interest” in a discretionary waiver of deportation was
“a circumstance fatal to his due process claim”). Thus,
Bonilla’s due process claim fails for lack of cognizability
because he had no protected liberty or property interest in
receiving special rule cancellation of removal under the NACARA.
Accordingly, we deny the petition for review. We dispense
with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before this court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
PETITION DENIED
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