Khurana v. Holder
Khurana v. Holder
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Gurpreet Khurana, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying her motion to reopen based on ineffective assistance of counsel. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, and de novo claims of due process violations, including claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in immigration proceedings. Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir. 2005). We grant the petition for review and remand.
The BIA abused its discretion when it concluded that Khurana failed to exercise the due diligence required for equitable tolling of the 90-day motions deadline. See Ghahremani v. Gonzales, 498 F.3d 993, 1000 (9th Cir. 2007) (due diligence where petitioner repeatedly sought new counsel in pursuit of relief). Khurana timely retained current counsel after her original petition for review was denied, and filed the motion to reopen within 90 days of her counsel receiving the administrative record and reviewing it with Khurana. See Iturribarria v. INS, 321 F.3d 889, 897 (9th Cir. 2003) (motions deadline tolled until petitioner meets with new counsel and reviews file).
We disagree with the BIA’s conclusion that Khurana’s counsels before the IJ and BIA were sufficient. See Mohammed, 400 F.3d at 793 (alien must demonstrate constitutionally deficient counsel and prejudice to prevail on an ineffective assistance
This failure to effectively document and present the asylum claim before the IJ, and failure of subsequently retained counsel to identify the ineffective assistance of counsel, rendered Khurana’s removal proceedings so fundamentally unfair that the she was prevented from reasonably presenting her case, see Lin v. Ashcroft, 377 F.3d 1014, 1027 (9th Cir. 2004), and may have affected the outcome of Khurana’s removal proceeding, see Itunibarria, 321 F.3d at 899-900.
We therefore grant the petition for review, and remand to the BIA.
The government shall bear the costs for this petition for review.
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.
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