Chang Lee v. Merrick Garland

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 12 2023 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT CHANG SOO LEE, No. 20-71791 Petitioner,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. 2