LYNCH, Circuit Judge.
The BIA held here that an alien, who is already under a final order of removal for committing crimes of moral turpitude, bears the burden of proving that he has met the standards under In re Pickering, 23 I. & N. Dec. 621 (BIA 2003), for vacating an order of removal presented in a belated motion and premised on the post-final-order-of-removal vacating of the underlying state court conviction. In the circumstances of this case, the BIA held that the alien had not met that burden. Because we cannot say that either the facts before it or the law compelled the BIA to reach the opposite result, we affirm the BIA and deny the petition for review.
I.
Antoni A. Rumierz, a Polish citizen who entered this country as an immigrant in 1980, was ordered removed from the United States by the BIA on August 18, 2000, on the basis that he had been convicted twice in state courts of receiving stolen property, which are crimes of moral turpitude for federal immigration purposes. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii).
Before that, in 1999, the BIA had found Rumierz removable on the same basis, but had remanded to the Immigration Judge (IJ) to determine whether Rumierz nonetheless should be granted a waiver of relief under former § 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(c) (1994) (repealed 1996). The IJ denied § 212(c) relief as a matter of discretion on December 10, 1999; this decision was affirmed in the BIA’s August 2000 order. Deportation proceedings had initially commenced in March 1994.
In its August 2000 order, the BIA expressly found that the government had met its burden to show that the two prior convictions were sufficient to establish Ru-mierz’s deportability; it also noted that the two convictions had not been vacated. There is no doubt the criminal convictions, one of which was a January 1994 Vermont conviction, were qualifying crimes of moral turpitude. Rumierz did not petition for review of the BIA’s August 2000 order, nor did he file a motion with the BIA to reopen.
In February 2001, Rumierz filed a pro se writ of habeas corpus, which was heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.1 No doubt he did this because the ninety-day filing deadline to bring new evidence to the BIA under either a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider had long since expired. 8 C.F.R. § 3.2(c)(2) (1999) (recodified at 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2)).
Thereafter, in 2002, two years after the BIA had entered its final order of removal and the time for reopening had passed, Rumierz sought to vacate the January 1994 predicate conviction in Vermont. On [34]*34application by Rumierz, a Vermont court entered, on August 23, 2002, an “Agreement and Stipulation,” which struck the conviction for possession of stolen property and amended it to negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Negligent operation of a motor vehicle is not a crime of moral turpitude under the immigration laws. Rumierz brought the vacating of the conviction to the attention of the district court. The government responded with an affidavit from a Vermont Deputy State’s Attorney, which stated that Ru-mierz had petitioned for post-conviction relief on the basis of allegations of “certain errors in his earlier conviction.” The affidavit also stated that “[t]he merits of Petitioner’s claim were not addressed or adjudicated in connection with the ‘Agreement and Stipulation.’ ”
The district court on September 25, 2003, at Rumierz’s request, directed the BIA “to reconsider its [August 18, 2000] decision in light of subsequent developments, including the Agreement and Stipulation, dated August 23, 2002 from the Superior Court, Windsor County, Vermont.” The district court order did not itself vacate the order of removal or order the BIA either directly or indirectly to vacate the order of removal. It also did not hold that Rumierz had met the standard used by the BIA to determine whether to reopen proceedings.
The BIA, as instructed, reconsidered based on the record sent to it by the district court, and denied relief, saying:
Upon further consideration, the respondent’s appeal will again be dismissed. The August 23, 2002, “Agreement and Stipulation” from the Vermont court states only that [Rumierz’s] conviction for possession of stolen property “shall be stricken and amended to negligent operation of a motor vehicle.” There is nothing in the record to indicate that this conviction was stricken based on any defect in the original conviction. An affidavit from a Vermont Deputy State’s Attorney states that, “the merits of Petitioner’s claim were not addressed or adjudicated” in connection with the Agreement and Stipulation.
In [In re Pickering ], we held that where a court order quashing a conviction, and the documents supporting the request to quash, did not identify a basis for questioning the integrity of the underlying criminal proceeding or conviction, the conviction remained valid for immigration purposes. In that case, the alien’s affidavit stated that the conviction was a bar to his lawful permanent resident status in the United States.
We find that, particularly this late, in the proceedings (where the conviction in question was entered in January of 1994, and where deportation proceedings began in March of 1994), [Rumierz] must present evidence to show that the Vermont court’s action in striking the stolen property conviction was tied to a defect in that conviction, rather than related in part to immigration proceedings. Here, there is no representation in the record regarding any kind of defect in the merits of the respondent’s Vermont conviction, and, as noted above, the state’s attorney has stated that in striking the conviction, the judge did not address or adjudicate the merits of [Rumierz’s] claim. Under these circumstances, the respondent has not shown that the Vermont conviction for possession of stolen property is not still valid for immigration purposes. We therefore find that the respondent remains deportable as charged.
The BIA order had two major components. First, it utilized the substantive standard the BIA had established in In re Pickering, 23 I. & N. Dec. 621, under [35]*35which a vacated conviction is no longer a “conviction” within the meaning of the immigration laws only “if a court with jurisdiction vacates [the] conviction based on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings.” 2 Id. at 624. Under Herrera-Inirio v. INS, 208 F.3d 299 (1st Cir.2000), which pre-dates and is independent of Pickering, the rule is the same:
The emphasis that Congress placed on the original admission of guilt plainly indicates that a subsequent dismissal of charges, based solely on rehabilitative goals and not on the merits of the charge or on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings, does not vitiate that original admission.
Id. at 306. Second, the BIA held in the circumstances of this case the alien bore the burden of demonstrating that the striking of the state conviction “was tied to a defect in that conviction.”
Thereafter, Rumierz renewed his habeas petition in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The case was transferred to this court on petition for review under section 106(c) of the REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. No. 109-13, Div. B, 119 Stat. 302, 311 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252 note).
II.
Rumierz makes four arguments attacking the BIA’s conclusions. We quote from his brief:
First, the BIA incorrectly placed the burden of proving deportability on Mr. Rumierz and not on the government where he has been charged with deport-ability. Second, the stipulated order is entitled to full faith and credit by the BIA without regard to the Vermont Court’s reasons for effecting the modification or reduction.3 Third, even if the BIA can look behind the stipulated order, the government has not met its burden of proving deportability by clear and convincing evidence or that Mr. Ru-mierz’s case runs afoul of [In re Pickering] in that no reliable evidence has been submitted showing that the criminal conviction was vacated solely due to immigration or rehabilitative reasons. Finally, as a matter of procedural due process the BIA should have terminated proceedings with prejudice after one remand to amend the [order to show cause], (citations omitted).
A. Burden of Demonstrating Predicate Conviction
The initial question presented by Rumierz’s arguments is whether the BIA’s allocation of the burden on the alien, in these circumstances, to demonstrate that the Pickering standard has been met is either contrary to the relevant statute or an impermissible construction of the statute. See Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984).
The odd procedural posture in which this case came to the BIA — through a district court order that the BIA reconsider in light of the vacated conviction— [36]*36makes no difference to the standard of review we use to determine whether we can reverse the choice of the BIA to place the burden on the petitioner on these facts. Nor does it make a difference to our standard of review of the BIA’s ruling that Rumierz had not met his burden.
Rumierz argues that the BIA’s allocation of burdens is inconsistent with the statute. He says that under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(48)(A) and 1229a(c)(3)(A), the government must always bear the burden of proof on showing a conviction of a crime of moral turpitude, regardless of whether the issue arises in the context of the alien having vacated the conviction after a final order of removal. He also argues that the placing of the burden on him is inconsistent with two Board rulings: Pickering and In re Ortiz-Herrera, A30-772-905, 2005 WL 3016102 (BIA Aug. 2, 2005) (unpublished decision). However, Ortiz-Herrera has no precedential value,4 and Pickering does not address the issue of burdens.
The first prong of the Chevron test asks “whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.” 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778. Rumierz relies heavily on the INA section defining the term “conviction”:
The term “conviction” means, with respect to an alien, a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld, where—
(i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and
(ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien’s liberty to be imposed.
8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A). This section itself does not assign burdens.
But 8 U.S.C. § 1229a provides that the burden of proof is on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of establishing by clear and convincing evidence that, in the case of an alien who has been lawfully admitted to the United States, the alien is deportable.
In the proceeding, the [DHS] has the burden of establishing by clear and convincing evidence that, in the case of an alien who has been admitted to the United States, the alien is deportable. No decision on deportability shall be valid unless it is based upon reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence.
8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(3)(A). The BIA found, in both its August 2000 order and its February 2004 order after reconsideration, that the government had met its burden in the proceedings leading to the August 2000 removal order. Rumierz does not contest that.
Both statutes, however, are silent on who has the burden of showing the effect of convictions which are vacated or modified after final orders of removal have entered. See Pinho v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 193, 206 (3d Cir.2005) (noting that “[n]oth-ing in the statute specifically addresses vacated convictions” and turning to a Chevron analysis). Thus, Congress has not spoken directly to the issue, and the [37]*37BIA’s position cannot be said to be contrary to the statute.
Turning to the second prong of the Chevron analysis, “whether the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute,” 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778, a court must uphold the BIA’s interpretation of a silent or ambiguous statute so long as it is reasonable and consistent with the statute. See INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 445 n. 29, 447-48, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987); Estrada-Canales v. Gonzales, 437 F.3d 208, 214-15 (1st Cir.2006). Further, as we noted in Herrera-Inirio, “[b]eeause agency officials acting in the immigration context ‘exercise especially sensitive political functions that implicate questions of foreign relations,’ deference to administrative expertise is particularly appropriate.” 208 F.3d at 304 (internal citation omitted) (quoting INS v. Abudu, 485 U.S. 94, 110, 108 S.Ct. 904, 99 L.Ed.2d 90 (1988)).
Placing the burden on the alien in these circumstances is consistent with BIA regulations. This allocation of burdens accords with the usual BIA rules that the burden is on the alien to show that there is a reason to reopen or to reconsider the case.5 Even if a prima facie case for relief is shown, the BIA “has discretion to deny a motion to reopen.” 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(a); see also Maryam v. Gonzales, 421 F.3d 60, 62 (1st Cir.2005).
Most importantly, the placing of the burden on the alien in these circumstances serves the interest of finality. That interest in finality is already reflected in the statutes and the BIA’s rules, which both set time limits for motions to reopen and place the burden on the alien seeking to reopen.6 Abudu, 485 U.S. at 107-08, 108 S.Ct. 904. As the Supreme Court has noted:
Motions for reopening of immigration proceedings are disfavored for the same reasons as are petitions for rehearing and motions for a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence. This is especially true in a deportation proceeding, where, as a general matter, every delay works to the advantage of the deportable alien who wishes merely to remain in the United States.
INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 323, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992) (internal citation omitted) (citing Abudu, 485 U.S. at 107-08, 108 S.Ct. 904).
The placement of burdens is also consistent with an earlier BIA decision, albeit one the BIA did not cite in the opinion.7 See In re Beckford, 22 I. & N. [38]*38Dec. 1216 (BIA 2000) (en banc). The BIA, in In re Beckford, held that when an alien files a motion to reopen (purporting to attack a predicate conviction underlying a removal order), the burden is on the alien to show that the conditions for reopening have been met, even though the burden had been on the government initially to show that the alien was removable. Id. at 1218. Where the motion to reopen is untimely, for example, where the state conviction is not vacated until after the time period for filing motions to reopen has expired, then the burden is also on the alien to establish that the motion presents an exceptional situation warranting further review. Id. As Beckford said:
The current posture of this case is critical to our decision. Were this case now before us on direct appeal, we might be inclined to remand for a further hearing. However, the fact that this is an untimely motion necessarily changes our point of view. A criminal defendant is initially the beneficiary of the rule that the government must prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. However, once having been found guilty, the defendant bears the burden of proof if he wishes to attack that finding. Similarly, the Service initially bears the burden of proof in a removal proceeding, but once an alien is found removable (and that finding is upheld on appeal, if an appeal is taken), the burden shifts to the alien who wishes to attack that finding. We note that, even where a motion to reopen is not untimely, the motion will not be granted unless there is a reasonable likelihood of success upon reopening. This is particularly so when the motion seeking further review of the finding is untimely.
Id. (emphasis added) (internal citations omitted) (citing Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 414, 108 S.Ct. 646, 98 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988); INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992); Abudu, 485 U.S. 94, 108 S.Ct. 904, 99 L.Ed.2d 90).
Here, the BIA explicitly noted that the vacating of the conviction was “late in the proceedings” and that “the conviction in question was entered in January 1994, and ... the deportation proceedings began in March of 1994.” Further, the BIA noted that Rumierz could easily have sought to vacate the January 1994 Vermont conviction and have presented the vacated conviction to the BIA in the six years before the BIA’s 2000 order.8 For this reason, as well, the BIA’s order is rational.9
[39]*39We outline several other reasons that placing the burden on Rumierz is rational. A shift of burden from the government to the individual when there is a collateral attack on a final judgment, as here, is quite common in the criminal law. For instance, the Court has placed the burden of proof on federal habeas petitioners who, under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, seek to vacate an already-imposed federal sentence on the basis that predicate state offenses had been vacated.10 See Daniels v. United States, 532 U.S. 374, 382, 121 S.Ct. 1578, 149 L.Ed.2d 590 (2001); Custis v. United States, 511 U.S. 485, 496-97, 114 S.Ct. 1732, 128 L.Ed.2d 517 (1994); cf. Taylor, 484 U.S. at 414, 108 S.Ct. 646 (holding that there is a presumption that new evidence, discovered by criminal defendant after trial is over, would not change outcome of trial).
As to this case, in which there are concerns that the alien has not acted with due diligence, the BIA order is also rational by analogy to Johnson v. United States, 544 U.S. 295, 125 S.Ct. 1571, 161 L.Ed.2d 542 (2005), which held that the defendant’s failure to act with due diligence in overturning a predicate state conviction underlying sentencing enhancement precluded resort to a renewed limitations period under the federal habeas statute. See id. at 310-11, 125 S.Ct. 1571.
We reject the challenge to the BIA’s decision to place the burden of proof on Rumierz.
B. Whether the BIA Was Compelled to Hold that Rumierz Had Met Pickering Standard
Our standard of review of the substance of the BIA’s decision that Rumierz did not meet his burden is quite narrow. The BIA’s “decision that an alien is not eligible for admission to the United States is conclusive unless manifestly contrary to law.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(C). Furthermore, the BIA’s “administrative findings of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.” Id. § 1252(b)(4)(B) (emphasis added). “This standard of review as to factual questions is commonly known as the ‘substantial evidence test,’ and substantial evidence exists where the decision is ‘supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.’ ” Estrada-Canales, 437 F.3d at 215 (quoting Katebi v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 463, 466 (1st Cir.2005)).
The topic of how to handle vacated state court decisions which are used as predicate convictions for purposes of removal has often come before the BIA and the reviewing courts of appeals. It is well accepted that not every vacating of a state court conviction makes the conviction invalid for purposes of immigration law. As this court held in Herrera-Inirio, 208 F.3d 299:
The emphasis that Congress placed on the original admission of guilt plainly [40]*40indicates that a subsequent dismissal of charges, based solely on rehabilitative goals and not on the merits of the charge or on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings, does not vitiate that original admission.
Id. at 306; see also Renteria-Gonzalez v. INS, 322 F.3d 804, 812 (5th Cir.2002); United States v. Campbell, 167 F.3d 94, 98 (2d Cir.1999); Beltran-Leon v. INS, 134 F.3d 1379, 1380-81 (9th Cir.1998). The rule in this circuit under Herrera-Inirio exists independently of the BIA’s Pickering case.
The generic issue arises under a number of sections of the INA. See, e.g., Herrera-Inirio, 208 F.3d at 303 (dealing with challenge to conviction of predicate crime of domestic violence); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). This case involves only removals based on the commission of multiple crimes of moral turpitude under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii).
The BIA has relevant precedent. Under the Pickering standard:
[T]here is a significant distinction between convictions vacated on the basis of a procedural or substantive defect in the underlying proceedings and those vacated because of post-conviction events, such as rehabilitation or immigration hardships. Thus, if a court with jurisdiction vacates a conviction based on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings, the respondent no longer has a “conviction” within the meaning of [INA] section 101(a)(48)(A). If, however, a court vacates a conviction for reasons unrelated to the merits of the underlying criminal proceedings, the respondent remains “convicted” for immigration purposes.
Pickering, 23 I. & N. Dec at 624. Pickering itself did not address the burden of proof.
The Attorney General, in a 2005 opinion pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(h)(1)(2) (authorizing BIA certification for review by the Attorney General), emphasized that for a vacated conviction to not be a “conviction” within the meaning of the immigration laws, the relief provided by the state must “reflect a judgment about the merits of the underlying adjudication of guilt.” In re Marroquin-Garcia, 23 I. & N. Dec. 705, 713-17 (A.G.2005). In addition, the Attorney General noted:
State laws that authorize the subsequent expungement of a conviction typically do so for reasons that are entirely unrelated to the legal propriety of the underlying judgment of conviction — reasons, in other words, that are unrelated to concerns about the factual basis for, or the procedural validity of, the conviction. These state expungement laws authorize a conviction to be expunged in order to serve rehabilitative ends and without reference to the merits of the underlying adjudication of guilt. Such expunged convictions would appear, therefore, to survive as formal adjudications of guilt entered by a court.
Id. at 713 (citations omitted).
We outlined Rumierz’s four arguments earlier. They are almost entirely dependent on his argument, which we have rejected, that the burden was on the government.
Applying, as we must, the rule in Herrera-Inirio, it is clear that the mere fact that the state court vacated the conviction does not require the BIA to vacate the order of removal, contrary to Rumierz’s argument. Also applying Herrera-Inirio and Pickering, it was Rumierz’s burden to show that the vacating of the Vermont conviction was based on a procedural or substantive invalidity as defined by Pickering.
[41]*41Rumierz’s criticisms11 of the BIA decision, in any event, do not convince us that the BIA was compelled to reach a different conclusion. To support his argument, Rumierz points first to the Vermont state court order (the “Agreement and Stipulation”) itself.12
The BIA’s inquiry started with this Vermont court order, which is consistent with how the BIA approached the issue in Pickering. As the BIA noted, all that was docketed in state court was an “Agreement and Stipulation” stating that the conviction for possession for stolen property “shall be stricken and amended to negligent operation of a motor vehicle.” On its face, the order fails to show, as required by Pickering, that the prior conviction was vacated because of “a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings.” 23 I. & N. Dec at 624. All that the state court order says is that the court had accepted an agreement of the parties to vacate the conviction. The BIA opinion, we note, did not say that it would never terminate an order of removal based on a conviction which had been vacated by stipulation. Nor did it say that the sole factor on which it found Rumierz had not met his burden was that the vacating was based on a stipulation.
To support his claim that the stipulation here was sufficient to invalidate the conviction within the meaning of the immigration laws, Rumierz points to Pinho v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 193. Pinho does not help him.13 The question is not whether an agreement [42]*42or stipulation vacating a conviction can ever serve as a basis for vacating an order of removal, but whether the BIA was compelled to accept the stipulation here. Pinko does not say that the BIA must accept every stipulation which leads to vacating a conviction, whatever the circumstances.
Rumierz argues that the record, in fact, does show that he had raised a valid claim of a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings, as required by Pickering. Rumierz points to the state attorney’s affidavit, which states that Rumierz alleged “certain errors in his earlier conviction.”14 The BIA considered the state attorney’s affidavit, but concluded that it was insufficient to meet Rumierz’s burden of showing that the conviction was vacated based on a defect in the underlying proceedings, especially since the affidavit stated that “the merits of [Rumierz’s] claim were not addressed or adjudicated in connection with the ‘Agreement or Stipulation.’ ” The BIA concluded that “there is no representation in the record regarding any kind of defect in the merits of the respondent’s conviction” and that “[u]nder these circumstances, [Rumierz] has not shown that the Vermont conviction ... is not still valid for immigration purposes.” Again, a court does not review this conclusion de novo, but asks only whether any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.
Going beyond the arguments presented by Rumierz, the dissent’s position is that the BIA was compelled to conclude that the vacated conviction in this case — which had been vacated not after adjudication of the merits of Rumierz’s motion to vacate, but pursuant to an agreement and stipulation between the defendant and the state’s attorney — meets the Pickering standard, simply by dint of the fact that Rumierz had claimed “certain errors” through a motion for post-conviction relief in state court.
The BIA was not obligated, as a matter of law, to accept that the stipulation and agreement — vacating a state law conviction for unstated reasons, entered into long after the state punishment had ceased and after a final order of removal — was sufficient to render the state conviction invalid within the meaning of Pickering based on evidence that “certain errors” were alleged. There is nothing in the federal immigration laws that requires such a result.15
First, the BIA is not required to conclude that the mere filing of a petition for [43]*43post-conviction relief claiming “certain errors” which results in a stipulation means that the petitioner has raised valid claims of defects in the state criminal proceedings.
Second, under Pickering, it is not enough to show that there was an allegation of a cognizable defect in the state proceedings; instead the alien must also show that “a court with jurisdiction vacated] the conviction based on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings.” 23 I. & N. Dec. at 624. Here, even beyond the fact that Rumierz can point to nothing more than the allegation of “certain errors,” he cannot show that the stipulation was “based on” those errors. A state’s attorney, rather than challenging the petition, may have agreed to a stipulated motion to vacate the conviction for any number of reasons other than the strength and validity of those claims.
We address another argument, which Rumierz did not make before the agency (or the district court) or to this court, and so, we hold, is precluded by the exhaustion doctrine and waived. See Boakai v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir.2006). Nonetheless, we comment on it because it is heavily relied on by the dissent. Nothing in the record of the state court proceedings that was before the BIA — the “Agreement and Stipulation” or the state attorney’s affidavit — refers to a particular state statute defining the post-conviction procedure used by Rumierz. The dissent nonetheless assumes that Rumierz used the procedure set forth in Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 7131, and that this means the grounds stated by Rumierz for relief from the state convictions are necessarily all grounds eligible for Pickering relief. The argument is based on certain assumptions, which Rumierz could have easily supported with evidence, had the assumptions been true. But Rumierz chose not to give the BIA such evidence. By its own terms the Vermont statute, Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 7131, only applies to “[a] prisoner who is in custody under sentence of a court and claims the right to be released” because of a defect in the conviction. Id. Rumierz was not in custody in Vermont and had served his time.16 The fact that Rumierz may have used a particular post-conviction relief statute does not mean that the BIA was required to hold that Rumierz had, in fact, raised valid claims of defects in the underlying criminal proceedings or that the state’s attorney agreed to vacate the conviction because of the strength or validity of those claims.
III.
Remaining Claims
Rumierz raises a number of other claims which were never raised to the BIA [44]*44and are barred by the exhaustion doctrine. Rumierz argues the BIA was obligated to tell him he was eligible for naturalization and so the order of removal should be vacated. Even if the claim had been exhausted, Rumierz was not eligible because he was already in deportation proceedings and so was precluded from naturalization. 8 U.S.C. § 1429 (“[N]o application for naturalization shall be considered by the Attorney General if there is pending against the applicant a removal proceeding----”). As the DHS notes, there is no inequity. Rumierz entered the United States as an immigrant in 1980; he had a number of years before the start of his deportation proceedings to seek naturalization but never once did so.
Rumierz also argues that the IJ who initially heard his case was biased. The claim is defaulted because it was never presented to the BIA. We lack jurisdiction. See Ishak v. Gonzales, 422 F.3d 22, 32 (1st Cir.2005).
Rumierz also argues that because he has spent the last decade in DHS detention, as a general equitable matter he should be released now and permitted to remain in the country. For any number of doctrinal reasons, the argument is not cognizable, but a few words are in order.
At base Rumierz’s claim is that when the alien has committed, as he has, more than two crimes involving moral turpitude, all of these crimes should be charged by the DHS in the initial deportation hearings. Here, part of the reason for the ten years of detention is that the government initially relied on a 1989 Massachusetts conviction for breaking and entering (as well as the Vermont conviction) and the IJ found Rumierz deportable. While that de-cisión was on appeal to the BIA, Rumierz succeeded in vacating the Massachusetts conviction. The BIA permitted the DHS, on remand to the IJ, to add a different Massachusetts conviction in 1995 for receiving stolen property. The IJ again found him deportable in 1996.17
Rumierz allowed the various proceedings to run their course and only after the August 2000 BIA final order of removal did he seek to vacate his Vermont conviction in 2002. The delay is entirely caused by Rumierz. His case has been ably handled by his counsel. There is, now, no basis for him to continue to avoid removal.
We deny the petition for review.