Eber Balan-Barrera v. Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Eber Balan-Barrera v. Loretta E. Lynch, 670 F. App'x 961 (9th Cir. 2016)

Eber Balan-Barrera v. Loretta E. Lynch

Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Eber Balan-Barrera, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen removal proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1262. We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen. Singh v. Holder, 771 F.3d 647, 650 (9th Cir. 2014). We grant the petition for review and remand.

Balan-Barrera moved to reopen so that he could pursue an I-601A provisional waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 212.7(e). At that time, an individual who had been in removal proceedings was eligible for the waiver only if the agency had administratively closed proceedings, instead of entering a removal order. See 8 C.F.R. § 212.7(e)(4) (2013).

The BIA correctly noted that Balan-Barrera’s final order of removal rendered him ineligible for the waiver. However, the BIA abused its discretion in denying Ba-lan-Barrera’s motion to reopen because it appears not to have considered whether he was entitled to reopening as a matter of discretion. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(a); Singh, 771 F.3d at 653 (the BIA’s denial of a motion to reopen on jurisdictional grounds was legal error, and thus an abuse of discretion, because it had authority to reopen under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(a)). We therefore grant the petition and. remand for further proceedings.

PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.

**

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

Reference

Full Case Name
Eber BALAN-BARRERA, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent
Status
Unpublished