NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FEB 22 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RAMON YANEZ-LOPEZ, No. 20-70539
Petitioner, Agency No. A037-727-096
v.
MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted February 17, 2022**
Pasadena, California
Before: BRESS and BUMATAY, Circuit Judges, and LASNIK,*** District Judge.
Ramon Yanez-Lopez, a citizen of Mexico, seeks review of a Board of
Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision denying his request for sua sponte reopening
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Robert S. Lasnik, United States District Judge for the
Western District of Washington, sitting by designation.
of his immigration proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and
may review only for legal or constitutional error. See Bonilla v. Lynch, 840 F.3d
575, 588 (9th Cir. 2016). We deny the petition in part and dismiss in part.
1. Yanez argues that the BIA erred in denying sua sponte reopening based
on Lorenzo v. Whitaker, 752 F. App’x 482 (9th Cir. 2019). But our intervening
decision in United States v. Rodriguez-Gamboa, 972 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 2020),
forecloses Yanez’s argument that the BIA committed legal error. Rodriguez-
Gamboa concluded that California’s definition of methamphetamine is not broader
than the federal definition. See id. at 1149–50. The BIA effectively anticipated our
decision in Rodriguez-Gamboa, and thus did not err.
2. Yanez also has not shown that the BIA erred in denying sua sponte
reopening based on INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001). Although Yanez purports
to identify legal error in the BIA’s ruling on the St. Cyr issue, the BIA denied sua
sponte reopening because St. Cyr was decided in 2001, and Yanez did not file a
motion to reopen until 2019. The BIA thus denied reopening because Yanez
provided no explanation for this lengthy delay. To the extent Yanez’s petition can
be characterized as arguing that the BIA should have reopened proceedings despite
the delay, we lack jurisdiction to consider that argument. See Bonilla, 840 F.3d at
588. And contrary to Yanez’s contention, the BIA did not deny reopening based on
any misunderstanding that Yanez was seeking relief under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.44(h).
2
PETITION DENIED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART.
3