Nicole Sadighi v. Loretta E. Lynch , 670 F. App'x 446 ( 2016 )


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  •                                                                            FILED
    NOT FOR PUBLICATION
    NOV 09 2016
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
    U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    NICOLE SADIGHI,                                  No.   13-73286
    Petitioner,                        Agency No. A099-420-518
    v.
    MEMORANDUM*
    LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General,
    Respondent.
    On Petition for Review of an Order of the
    Board of Immigration Appeals
    Argued and Submitted October 7, 2016
    Pasadena, California
    Before: PREGERSON, NOONAN, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.
    Nicole Sadighi is a fourty-three year-old citizen of the United Kingdom who
    was born in Iran. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissed her
    appeal from an Immigration Judge’s denial of her applications for asylum,
    withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture.
    *
    This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
    except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
    Sadighi then filed a four-paragraph motion for reconsideration with the BIA.
    The BIA denied the motion for reconsideration, but also sua sponte treated that
    same motion as a motion to reopen and subsequently denied it as well. Sadighi
    timely filed a petition for review of the BIA’s decision.
    We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for abuse of
    discretion the denial of a motion to reconsider and a motion to reopen. Cano-
    Merida v. INS, 
    311 F.3d 960
    , 964 (9th Cir. 2002). We grant the petition for review
    in part, deny in part, and remand to the BIA.
    The BIA did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Sadghi’s motion for
    reconsideration as she did not support her motion to reconsider with any authority
    establishing that the BIA committed an error of law or fact as required by 8 U.S.C.
    § 1229a(c)(6)(C).
    The BIA did abuse its discretion by sua sponte treating Sadighi’s four-
    paragraph motion for reconsideration as a motion to reopen when the BIA stated
    2
    that Sadighi’s counsel “offered no evidence whatsoever with the motion.”1 The
    BIA noted that Sadighi’s four-paragraph motion was not supported by “affidavits
    or other evidentiary material,” as required for a motion to reopen under 8 C.F.R.
    § 1003.2(c)(1). Thus, the BIA abused its discretion because it misapplied its own
    regulation, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c) (codified as 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)). See
    Itrurribarria v. INS, 
    321 F.3d 889
    , 897 (9th Cir. 2003).
    We emphasize that Sadighi may only file one motion to reopen under 8
    U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A). By sua sponte construing Sadighi’s four-paragraph
    motion for reconsideration as a motion to reopen without any notice to Sadighi or
    her counsel, the BIA unjustifiably deprived Sadighi of her one and only chance to
    file a motion to reopen.
    Therefore, we grant Sadighi’s petition in part, deny in part, and remand to
    the BIA. Upon remand, the BIA should afford Sadighi a reasonable amount of
    1
    A “motion to reopen and a motion to reconsider are two separate and
    distinct motions with different requirements . . . .” Chudshevid v. INS, 
    641 F.2d 780
    , 783 (9th Cir. 1981). In contrast to a motion to reconsider where the applicant
    asks the BIA to consider something that may simply have been overlooked, a
    motion to reopen usually requires a showing of “new evidence or a change in
    factual circumstances.” Itrurribarria v. INS, 
    321 F.3d 889
    , 896 (9th Cir. 2003);
    see also Matter of Cerna, 20 I.&N. Dec. 339, 403 (BIA 1991) (superseded by
    amended regulation as recognized in Martinez-Lopez v. Holder, 
    704 F.3d 169
    , 172
    (1st Cir. 2013)) (finding that a motion to reopen seeks to reopen proceedings so
    that new evidence can be presented and a new decision entered on a different
    factual record normally after a further evidentiary hearing).
    3
    time to submit a fully briefed motion to reopen, supported by declarations and
    other evidence.
    Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal.
    GRANTED in part, DENIED in part, and REMANDED for further
    proceedings consistent with this disposition.
    4
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 13-73286

Citation Numbers: 670 F. App'x 446

Judges: Pregerson, Noonan, Paez

Filed Date: 11/9/2016

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 10/19/2024