Torres v. Gonzales
Torres v. Gonzales
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Pedro Acua Torres, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen proceedings based on ineffective assistance of counsel. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review the denial of a motion to reopen for abuse of discretion, and review claims of due process violations due to ineffective assistance of counsel de novo. See Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir. 2005). We grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.
The BIA applied the wrong standard when determining whether the performance of prior counsel resulted in prejudice to Acua Torres. The BIA required Acua Torres to demonstrate that he or his qualifying relatives would suffer extreme hardship upon Acua Torres’ deportation, see 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a)(1) (repealed 1997), when he need only demonstrate that the deficient performance by counsel may have affected the outcome of the proceedings, see Maravilla Maravilla v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 855, 858-59 (9th Cir. 2004) (per curiam) (BIA abused its discretion when it directly adjudged question of whether petitioners would win or lose claim when determining prejudice).
Because counsel failed to perform with sufficient competence, and because this deficient performance may have affected the outcome of the proceedings, we grant the petition for review. We remand for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.