FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT June 30, 2021 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court BALTAZAR ABEL SOSA- VALENZUELA, Petitioner, v. No. 20-9556 (Petition for Review) MERRICK B. GARLAND, United States Attorney General, ∗ Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT ** _________________________________ Before HARTZ, BRISCOE, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Baltazar Abel Sosa-Valenzuela, a Mexican national, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) decision upholding an immigration judge’s (IJ) order refusing to accept an untimely brief, denying a discretionary waiver of removal, ∗ On March 11, 2021, Merrick B. Garland became Attorney General of the United States. Consequently, his name has been substituted for William P. Barr as Respondent, per Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2). ** After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. and ordering him removed to Mexico. Most of Sosa-Valenzuela’s arguments were not exhausted before the agency, and therefore we dismiss much of the petition for lack of jurisdiction. However, to the extent he raises one issue challenging the adequacy of the BIA’s decision, we have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a) and deny that part of the petition for review. 1 I This case has a lengthy history dating back to the early 1990s, as described in two previous decisions issued by this court. See Sosa-Valenzuela v. Holder, 692 F.3d 1103 (10th Cir. 2012); Sosa-Valenzuela v. Gonzales, 483 F.3d 1140 (10th Cir. 2007). We recount only those events relevant to this appeal. Sosa-Valenzuela entered the United States as a child and obtained lawful permanent residency status. In 1994, he pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm by a juvenile, and associated crimes for shooting another person, but after successful post-conviction proceedings, his convictions were vacated, and he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and crime of violence with use of a deadly weapon. The government commenced removal proceedings and eventually relied on the assault conviction to charge Sosa-Valenzuela as removable for having been convicted of an “aggravated felony.” See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). 2 An “aggravated 1 The jurisdictional issues raised by this court’s June 23, 2020, show-cause order and Sosa-Valenzuela’s response were referred to this merits panel. For the reasons discussed herein, we discharge the show-cause order. 2 Although Sosa-Valenzuela’s immigration proceedings commenced before passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 2 felony” is defined as “a crime of violence,” id. § 1101(a)(43)(F), which in turn is defined as either: (a) an offense that …
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