Case: 19-11479 Date Filed: 04/29/2020 Page: 1 of 6 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 19-11479 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A042-374-496 CLARO T. LOPEZ, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (April 29, 2020) Before ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR and HULL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 19-11479 Date Filed: 04/29/2020 Page: 2 of 6 Claro Lopez, a Cuban citizen, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) sua sponte denial of his motion to reopen his removal proceedings. After careful review, we dismiss his petition for lack of jurisdiction. I. Lopez was admitted to the United States as an immigrant. After his admission, Lopez was convicted in three separate cases for: (1) two counts of grand theft; (2) battery; (3) burglary with assault; (4) resisting an officer with violence; (5) resisting an officer without violence; (6) two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer; and (7) attempted escape. As a result, the Immigration and Naturalization Service charged him as deportable based on his convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude (“CIMT”) not arising out of a single scheme of misconduct. Lopez, acting pro se, appeared before the immigration judge (“IJ”), who ordered him removed to Cuba. 1 He did not appeal. Over 20 years later, Lopez filed with the IJ a “Motion to Reopen Based on a Change in Circumstances and/or Motion to Reopen Sua Sponte.” AR at 63.2 Lopez argued that: (1) he was not deportable because his convictions were not for CIMTs; (2) he was not competent to represent himself at his removal hearing; and (3) he was eligible for a waiver of deportability. In support of his motion, he 1 The transcript of the removal hearing is unavailable. 2 “AR” refers to the administrative record. 2 Case: 19-11479 Date Filed: 04/29/2020 Page: 3 of 6 attached medical records showing that he was treated for seizures and bipolar disorder before his convictions. The IJ denied Lopez’s motion. The IJ declined to exercise its sua sponte authority to reopen Lopez’s removal proceedings, concluding that Lopez had failed to demonstrate an “exceptional situation” warranting sua sponte reopening. Id. at 58. The IJ rejected Lopez’s claim that he was not deportable based on his crimes, explaining that the record showed that he committed at least two CIMTs not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct. Additionally, the IJ found that Lopez’s competency claim did not warrant sua sponte reopening because nothing in the record indicated that he was incompetent during his removal hearing. Finally, the IJ concluded that Lopez’s claim that he was eligible for a waiver of deportability had no bearing on whether he was entitled to reopening. Thus, the IJ declined to reopen sua sponte Lopez’s proceedings. Lopez appealed to the BIA. In his brief on appeal, he reasserted that his case should be reopened because he was (1) not deportable based on ...
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