United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 18-1243 CARLOS M. RIVERA, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Lynch, Selya, and Lipez, Circuit Judges. Sameer H. Hasan and Hasan Law Group PLLC on brief for petitioner. Lisa M. Damiano, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Greg D. Mack, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief for respondent. September 6, 2018 LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Carlos M. Rivera, a native and citizen of Guatemala who entered the United States illegally in 1992, seeks review of a February 2018 Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) final decision denying his application for cancellation of removal pursuant to section 240A(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1).1 An immigration judge (IJ) denied Rivera's request, in part due to the criminal charges pending against Rivera of child molestation of his ex- wife's then-twelve-year-old granddaughter. The BIA affirmed the IJ and dismissed the appeal on the bases that Rivera had failed to demonstrate exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying relative, and also that he did not establish that he warranted cancellation of removal as a matter of discretion. That is the order now before us. We dismiss Rivera's petition for lack of jurisdiction over his attacks on the BIA's decision. I. We give more details on the background facts. Rivera last entered the United States without admission or inspection in 1992. 1 Rivera had entered the United States without inspection in 1992, and an immigration judge issued an order of removal in 2012, which the BIA affirmed. Rivera voluntarily dismissed an appeal to this court. For reasons explained below, Rivera was heard on an application for cancellation of removal in 2017, which was denied. - 2 - A. Prior Proceedings In January 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) served Rivera with a Notice to Appear in removal proceedings. At a hearing before an IJ in May 2012, Rivera conceded removability, but sought cancellation of removal pursuant to INA § 240A(b)(1) and the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997 (NACARA), Pub. L. No. 105-100, §§ 201- 204, 111 Stat. 2160, 2196-2201 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C.). In the alternative, Rivera sought voluntary departure. Rivera and his former wife had applied for relief and listed their then-minor daughter, Jackelyn, who is a U.S. citizen, as the qualifying relative. The IJ denied Rivera's application in July 2012.2 The BIA found no error on Rivera's appeal of that decision. In April 2015, Rivera filed a motion before the BIA to reopen and remand the proceedings, arguing ineffective assistance of his counsel. 2 The IJ found that Rivera was not entitled to relief under NACARA because he was unable to meet his burden of showing either that he entered the United States ...
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