FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
JUN 23 2017
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JUANA HERRERA DE MARTINEZ, No. 11-73754
AKA Juana Herrera De Marintez,
Agency No. A075-113-920
Petitioner,
v. MEMORANDUM*
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
JUANA HERRERA DE MARTINEZ, Nos. 12-72333
13-70052
Petitioner,
Agency No. A075-113-920
v.
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
Submitted June 12, 2017**
San Francisco, California
Before: SCHROEDER and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and PIERSOL,***
District Judge.
We deny Juana Herrera de Martinez’s petitions for review in this
consolidated appeal.
1. Herrera de Martinez applied for a hardship waiver; therefore, she bore
the burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the
marriage was entered in good faith. See 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(4)(B), (C); Oropeza-
Wong v. Gonzales, 406 F.3d 1135, 1148 (9th Cir. 2005). We review the Board of
Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision that the marriage was not entered in good
faith under “the highly deferential substantial evidence standard. Under this
standard we must affirm unless the evidence is so compelling that no reasonable
fact-finder could fail to find the facts were as [Herrera de Martienz] alleged.”
Smolniakova v. Gonzales, 422 F.3d 1037, 1044 (9th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted). Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s decision.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Lawrence L. Piersol, United States District Judge for
the District of South Dakota, sitting by designation.
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The testimony of Herrera de Martienz’s daughter and the sworn statement of
her ex-husband support the BIA’s conclusion that Herrera de Martinez did not
meet her burden of proving her marriage was entered in good faith. Evidence
demonstrated that the couple entered the marriage for immigration purposes. For
example, Herrera de Martinez’s daughter could not recall ever living with anyone
other than her mother (despite providing detailed testimony regarding other
information); her witnesses only provided vague testimony regarding her marriage;
and her ex-husband’s sworn statement (which was confirmed by the immigration
officer) claimed the marriage was fake. This evidence does not permit us to
conclude that any reasonable fact-finder would be compelled to find that the
marriage was entered in good faith.
We do not find that the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) reliance on the ex-
husband’s sworn statement to be fundamentally unfair. First, Herrera de Martinez
refused to provide a waiver of confidentiality, which would have allowed the
government to subpoena the ex-husband to testify. Second, the immigration
officer testified about her interview with the couple, which demonstrated
significant inconsistencies with regard to their marriage (including what they did
the night before). Finally, the IJ did not rely solely on the sworn declaration to
conclude that the marriage was not entered in good faith.
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2. Even assuming Herrera de Martinez did not waive the argument that
the BIA abused its discretion in denying the first motion to reopen, see Leer v.
Murphy, 844 F.2d 628, 634 (9th Cir. 1988) (“deem[ing] abandoned” all issues
raised in a brief not supported by argument), the BIA did not abuse its discretion in
denying the motion. First, the BIA found that the motion to reopen to apply for
cancellation of removal and adjustment of status was not based on a change of
circumstances or newly discovered evidence. Thus, Herrera de Martinez was not
eligible to reopen her matter. See Toufighi v. Mukasey, 538 F.3d 988, 994, 996
(9th Cir. 2008). Second, because Herrera de Martinez did not enter her first
marriage in good faith, the BIA concluded that she could not show she was prima
facie eligible to adjust her status. See 8 U.S.C. 1154(c). The BIA’s conclusions
were not “illogical, implausible, or without support in inferences that may be
drawn from the record.” United States v. Hinkson, 585 F.3d 1247, 1262 (9th Cir.
2009) (en banc).
3. Herrera de Martinez’s second motion to reopen requested reopening to
apply for cancellation of removal and adjustment of status based on her approved
visa petition through her second marriage and because her former counsel’s
performance prevented her from obtaining relief from removal. The BIA did not
abuse its discretion in denying Herrera de Martinez’s second motion to reopen.
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First, the BIA acknowledged that the approved visa petition was new and
acknowledged that her family would suffer hardships, see Najmabadi v. Holder,
597 F.3d 983, 990 (9th Cir. 2010), but concluded, in its discretion, that the
circumstances of her first marriage weighed against reopening, see Fisher v. INS,
79 F.3d 955, 965 (9th Cir. 1996). Second, the BIA rejected the claim that the
performance of Herrera de Martinez’s former counsel prejudiced her, because
Herrera de Martinez did not present any evidence to rebut the conclusion that her
marriage was not entered in good faith. Thus, Herrera de Martinez failed to show
how prior “counsel’s ineffective performance . . . affected the outcome of the
proceedings.” Iturribarria v. INS, 321 F.3d 889, 899-900 (9th Cir. 2003) (citations
omitted). Finally, the BIA also concluded that, because cancellation of removal
and adjustment of status were discretionary decisions, it was unlikely that either
would be granted in light of the fact her first marriage was not entered in good
faith. See Fisher, 79 F.3d at 965. None of the foregoing conclusions were
“illogical, implausible, or without support in inferences that may be drawn from
the record.” Hinkson, 585 F.3d at 1262.
4. Even assuming Herrera de Martinez did not waive the argument that
the BIA abused its discretion in denying the motion to reconsider, see Leer, 844
F.2d at 634, the BIA did not abuse its discretion. Herrera de Martinez’s request for
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a waiver under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(H) was untimely, because she either failed to
raise the issue before the IJ or failed to assert that her former counsel was
ineffective by failing to request the waiver. The BIA’s conclusion was not
“illogical, implausible, or without support in inferences that may be drawn from
the record.” Hinkson, 585 F.3d at 1262.
PETITIONS FOR REVIEW DENIED.
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