Chang Lee v. Merrick Garland ( 2023 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 12 2023
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
CHANG SOO LEE, No. 20-71791
Petitioner, Agency No. A200-953-153
v.
MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted July 10, 2023**
Pasadena, California
Before: SANCHEZ and MENDOZA, Circuit Judges, and DONATO,*** District
Judge.
Chang Soo Lee, a native and citizen of South Korea, petitions for review of
the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable James Donato, United States District Judge for the
Northern District of California, sitting by designation.
Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying Mr. Lee’s application for cancellation of
removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). Mr. Lee, who was represented by counsel,
did not challenge the IJ’s dispositive adverse moral character determination before
the BIA. Because he failed to exhaust that issue, we are barred from reviewing it.
See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1).
We need not reach Mr. Lee’s arguments related to hardship. Even if the
agency made an error that prejudiced Mr. Lee’s ability to prove hardship, curing
that error would not change the outcome of the proceedings given the adverse
moral character determination. See Larita-Martinez v. INS, 220 F.3d 1092, 1095
(9th Cir. 2000).
PETITION DENIED.
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