Medrano Gonzalez v. Garland

Opinion

Case: 22-60304 Document: 00516587001 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/22/2022

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

No. 22-60304 FILED December 22, 2022

Summary Calendar

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

Anselmo Medrano Gonzalez,

Petitioner,

versus

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,

Respondent.

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A090 766 086

Before Smith, Dennis, and Southwick, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Anselmo Medrano Gonzalez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denying his motion to reopen. Motions to reopen are “disfavored” and are reviewed under “a highly deferential abuse of discretion standard.” Gonzalez-Cantu v. Sessions, 866 F.3d 302, 304–05 (5th Cir. 2017) (internal

*

This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.

Case: 22-60304 Document: 00516587001 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/22/2022

No. 22-60304

quotation marks and citation omitted).

Review of the record supports the BIA’s conclusion that Medrano Gonzalez had not shown he was prejudiced by the allegedly deficient performance of his attorneys. See Diaz v. Sessions, 894 F.3d 222, 228 (5th Cir. 2018). Consequently, the BIA’s decision was not “capricious, racially invidious , utterly without foundation in the evidence, or otherwise so irrational that it is arbitrary rather than the result of any perceptible rational approach,” and the abuse of discretion standard has not been met. See Zhao v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 295, 304 (5th Cir. 2005) (citation omitted). Insofar as Medrano Gonzalez maintains that counsels’ poor performance amounts to a due process violation, that argument is likewise unavailing. See Diaz, 894 F.3d at 228; Mai v. Gonzales, 473 F.3d 162, 165 (5th Cir. 2006).

The petition for review is DENIED.