
    Abel Rodriguez RIVERA, Petitioner, v. John ASHCROFT, Attorney General, Respondent.
    No. 03-73144.
    Agency No. [ AXX-XXX-XXX ].
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    Submitted Dec. 6, 2004.
    
    Decided Dec. 15, 2004.
    Edgardo Quintanilla, Esq., Attorney at Law, Sherman Oaks, CA, for Petitioner.
    Keren Bahar, Law offices of Edgardo Quintanilla, Sherman Oaks, CA, Regional Counsel, Western Region Immigration & Naturalization Service, Laguna Niguel, CA, Ronald E. LeFevre, Chief Legal Officer, Joan E. Smiley, Esq., Washington, DC, for Respondent.
    Before GOODWIN, WALLACE, and TROTT, Circuit Judges.
    
      
       The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).
    
   MEMORANDUM

Abel Rodriguez Rivera, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal of an immigration judge’s order denying his motion to reopen proceedings in which he was ordered deported in absentia. Because the transitional rules apply, we have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a). See Socop-Gonzalez v. INS, 272 F.3d 1176, 1183 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc). We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen and we review de novo the interpretation of purely legal questions. Id. at 1187. We deny the petition for review.

The BIA properly determined that Rivera’s untimely motion to reopen was not subject to equitable tolling because he failed to establish that the five-and-a-half year delay in filing the motion “was caused by circumstances beyond [his] control.” Id. at 1193.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED. 
      
       This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
     