Melvin Mendez-Aguilar v. Matthew Whitaker

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 18-1680 MELVIN AUGUSTO MENDEZ-AGUILAR, Petitioner, v. MATTHEW G. WHITAKER, Acting Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: January 24, 2019 Decided: January 30, 2019 Before KING, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Petition denied in part, dismissed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Rachel L. Rado, THE LAW OFFICES OF RACHEL L. RADO, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts, for Petitioner. Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Anthony P. Nicastro, Assistant Director, Joanna L. Watson, 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 Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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: Melvin Augusto Mendez-Aguilar, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”) dismissing his appeal from the immigration judge’s decision denying his motion to reopen and rescind his in absentia removal order. Mendez-Aguilar contends that the Board erred in affirming the IJ’s decision denying reopening and abused its discretion by declining to use its sua sponte authority to reopen proceedings. We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review. We find no reason to disturb the Board’s affirmance of the IJ’s decision denying reopening as the record establishes that Mendez-Aguilar received proper notice of the hearing. Accordingly, we deny in part the petition for review. We also dismiss in part the petition for review because we are without jurisdiction to review the Board’s decision not to sua sponte reopen proceedings. See Lawrence v. Lynch, 826 F.3d 198, 206 (4th Cir. 2016). We also deny Mendez-Aguilar’s motion to supplement the record. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(a) (2012). Accordingly, we deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review and deny the motion to supplement the record. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. PETITION DENIED IN PART, DISMISSED IN PART 2