Filed: Oct. 16, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-4802 _ JUVENAL VALDOVINOS-LOPEZ, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of a Final Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Immigration Judge: Honorable Andrew Arthur (No. A200-684-816) _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) July 9, 2015 Before: FUENTES, NYGAARD, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: October 16, 2015) _ OPINION* _ * This disposition
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-4802 _ JUVENAL VALDOVINOS-LOPEZ, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of a Final Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Immigration Judge: Honorable Andrew Arthur (No. A200-684-816) _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) July 9, 2015 Before: FUENTES, NYGAARD, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: October 16, 2015) _ OPINION* _ * This disposition ..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
________________
No. 14-4802
________________
JUVENAL VALDOVINOS-LOPEZ,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent
________________
On Petition for Review of a Final Order
of the Board of Immigration Appeals
Immigration Judge: Honorable Andrew Arthur
(No. A200-684-816)
________________
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
July 9, 2015
Before: FUENTES, NYGAARD, and ROTH, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: October 16, 2015)
________________
OPINION*
________________
* This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
FUENTES, Circuit Judge
Juvenal Valdovinos-Lopez petitions this Court for review of a decision of the
Board of Immigration Appeals denying his motion to reopen his removal proceedings.
Because the Board’s decision is premised on a mischaracterization of the applicable law,
we grant the petition and remand for further proceedings.
I.
Valdovinos-Lopez is a citizen of Mexico. In 1994, when he was less than one year
old, his parents brought him to the United States illegally. He lived here for quite some
time but was eventually arrested for stealing a car and sent to juvenile detention. On April
5, 2011, when he was seventeen, Valdovinos-Lopez was transferred to the custody of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Although he allegedly was eligible for
bond, he was not advised of this or of his right to judicial review. And, because of his
frequent transfers to different facilities, Valdovinos-Lopez had difficulty communicating
with his family. A few weeks later (apparently after he turned eighteen), Valdovinos-
Lopez was visited by ICE officers who presented him with a request for expedited
deportation and explained that he could be released to Mexico very quickly if he signed
the form. According to Valdovinos-Lopez, they did not explain that he could be eligible
for bond or relief from removal; they did not ask him if he had any fear of returning to
Mexico (which could provide the basis for a claim of asylum or withholding of removal);
and they did not advise him that signing the form would waive his right to pursue
immigration relief.
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Valdovinos-Lopez signed the form. On April 28, 2011, he appeared before an
Immigration Judge in Pennsylvania at a “quick docket” removal hearing along with
sixteen other pro se respondents. The Immigration Judge addressed them as a group,
explained that they had waived their right to counsel and immigration relief in exchange
for quick deportation, and asked them a few questions before finding all of them
removable as charged. Valdovinos-Lopez alleges that he was intimidated by the manner
in which the Immigration Judge conducted the hearing and was afraid to speak out on his
own behalf. He was removed to Mexico the next day. Although his parents had hired an
attorney who filed a notice of appearance the day before the hearing, the attorney was
unable to intercede before his removal.
Valdovinos-Lopez alleges that he had no family who could support him in Mexico
and that he feared being kidnapped by criminal gangs. After one week, he reentered the
United States, where he lived for a year until an arrest for possession of marijuana in the
State of Washington. On January 17, 2014, he was again detained by ICE and placed in
removal proceedings before an immigration judge in Washington. Seeking to reopen his
prior proceedings, Valdovinos-Lopez’s counsel requested a copy of the recording of his
April 28, 2011 hearing (known as a DAR-CD) from the immigration court in
Pennsylvania. In part because of technical problems at the court, counsel did not receive
the DAR-CD until four months later, in September 2014. Because the immigration judge
in Washington was not inclined to grant further continuances, counsel filed a motion to
reopen in the Pennsylvania immigration court before having received the DAR-CD. The
motion argued that ICE officers and the Immigration Judge (in Pennsylvania) violated
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due process because Valdovinos-Lopez was not informed of his rights or his possible
eligibility for relief and therefore did not knowingly and intelligently consent to removal.
An alien has the statutory right to file one motion to reopen removal proceedings
within 90 days of the entry of an order of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C). After
that time, the only basis for reopening is a regulation that gives the immigration courts
the authority to reopen a removal proceeding sua sponte. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(a).
Motions to reopen sua sponte are subject to what is known as the “post-departure bar,”
which precludes a person already removed from the United States from filing such a
motion. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(d); Desai v. Attorney Gen. of U.S., 695 F.3d 267, 268 (3d
Cir. 2012). The post-departure bar does not, however, prohibit “statutory” motions to
reopen (i.e., those filed within the 90-day window). See
Desai, 695 F.3d at 268, 270.
Because Valdovinos-Lopez’s motion was filed years after the 90-day limit had
expired and after his removal to Mexico, the Immigration Judge construed it as a motion
to reopen sua sponte and denied it pursuant to the post-departure bar. Valdovinos-Lopez
appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. By this time, counsel had obtained the
DAR-CD, and therefore he requested that the Board construe the appeal as a separate
motion to reopen based on newly discovered evidence. He contended that, in part due to
delays in the transmission of the DAR-CD, the 90-day time limit should be equitably
tolled. With equitable tolling, he argued, the motion was timely and therefore one he was
statutorily entitled to file—rather than a motion to reopen sua sponte, which the post-
departure bar would prohibit.
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The Board dismissed the appeal, holding that his motion was sua sponte rather
than statutory, and that the post-departure bar therefore applied. It explained that “after
the 90-day deadline expired, and in the absence of a motion to reopen that implicates a
statutory right, any motion to reopen is barred from consideration[,] . . . which includes
the concept of equitable tolling.” (App. 5.) It further noted that even if it could consider
equitable tolling, the relevant starting point was the April 28, 2011 removal order, rather
than counsel’s request for the DAR-CD in 2014. Valdovinos-Lopez would have to show
due diligence in pursuing his immigration case from that point onward.
Valdovinos-Lopez filed a petition for review with this Court.
II.
We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1); the Board had jurisdiction
under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(b)(3). Where, as here, the Board issues a reasoned opinion, we
review that and look to the Immigration Judge’s ruling only to the extent that the Board
defers to it. See Huang v. Attorney Gen. of U.S., 620 F.3d 372, 379 (3d Cir. 2010).
We generally review a denial of a motion to reopen removal proceedings for abuse
of discretion. See Pllumi v. Attorney Gen. of U.S., 642 F.3d 155, 158 (3d Cir. 2011). “The
discretionary decision is not disturbed unless it is found to be arbitrary, irrational, or
contrary to law.” Alzaarir v. Attorney Gen. of U.S.,
639 F.3d 86, 89 (3d Cir. 2011).
Motions to reopen sua sponte, however, are different. “Because such motions are
committed to the unfettered discretion of the [Board], we lack jurisdiction to review a
decision on whether and how to exercise that discretion.” Pllumi, 642 F.3d at 159. But
where the Board has rejected a motion for sua sponte reopening, “we may exercise
5
jurisdiction to the limited extent of recognizing when the [Board] has relied on an
incorrect legal premise. In such cases we can remand to the [Board] so it may exercise its
authority against the correct legal background.” Desai, 695 F.3d at 269 (citation and
internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting
Pllumi, 642 F.3d at 160).
Thus, regardless of the nature of the motion on appeal, remand is appropriate if the
Board made an error of law.
III.
Valdovinos-Lopez argues that the Board erred in construing his appeal as a motion
to reopen sua sponte, rather than a statutory motion to reopen. With equitable tolling, he
argues, his motion was timely filed and avoids the post-departure bar. At the time of his
“quick docket” removal hearing, Valdovinos-Lopez was eighteen, was not represented by
counsel, was not aware of his possible eligibility for relief, had been detained away from
his family despite his possible entitlement to bond, and did not understand the
consequences of expedited removal. As a result, he argues that his delay in filing the
motion to reopen is due to “his reasonable reliance on governmental and judicial error
regarding his eligibility for relief.” (Valdovinos-Lopez Br. 34.)
The Government first argues that Valdovinos-Lopez waived any argument that the
post-departure bar does not apply by failing to raise the issue in his opening brief. That
argument is, however, nearly the entirety of his opening brief. Next, the Government
argues that the post-departure bar applies. In so doing, it assumes that Valdovinos-
Lopez’s motion is a motion to reopen sua sponte and does not address the possibility that
equitable tolling could transform it into a statutory motion to reopen.
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The Government’s assumption is mistaken. If Valdovinos-Lopez is entitled to
equitable tolling, and if equitable tolling would make his motion to reopen a timely one,
then the motion would be statutory—not sua sponte. See Alzaarir, 639 F.3d at, 89-90 &
n.2; see also Bolieiro v. Holder, 731 F.3d 32, 39-40 (1st Cir. 2013); Singh v. Holder,
658
F.3d 879, 884 & n.6 (9th Cir. 2011). As a result, the post-departure bar would not apply.
See
Desai, 695 F.3d at 268, 270.
Here, the Board mistakenly believed that equitable tolling was simply a factor to
take into account when deciding whether to reopen sua sponte, rather than a factor that
would extend the 90-day deadline for statutory motions. As a result, it applied the post-
departure bar without making a definitive ruling on Valdovinos-Lopez’s entitlement to
equitable tolling. This was an error of law, and it is our responsibility to remand so that
the Board may apply the correct legal principles. See Desai, 695 F.3d at 269;
Alzaarir,
639 F.3d at 89.
We acknowledge that the Board observed that Valdovinos-Lopez had misstated
the proper starting point for equitable tolling. In his brief to the Board, he argued
primarily that the immigration court’s delay in sending him the DAR-CD warranted
equitable tolling. The Board responded that this was beside the point, since Valdovinos-
Lopez also had to show that he had exercised due diligence in pursuing his immigration
case from the time he was removed in April 2011.
It is true that “[d]ue diligence must be exercised over the entire period for which
tolling is desired.” Alzaarir, 639 F.3d at 90. But Valdovinos-Lopez’s brief to the Board
did not focus exclusively on the period that began when counsel requested the DAR-CD.
7
He also argued that he would have fought his removal had he been informed of his rights
and his possible eligibility for relief at and before the removal hearing. These allegations
that he was misinformed may be relevant to the due-diligence inquiry. See id. The Board
did not consider this possibility, however, and the Government does not so much as
mention it on appeal.
As both the Board and the Government have failed to meaningfully address
Valdovinos-Lopez’s equitable tolling argument, we believe that the appropriate course of
action is to remand the issue for consideration by the Board in the first instance. See
Konan v. Attorney Gen. of U.S., 432 F.3d 497, 501-02 (3d Cir. 2005) (holding that “if the
[Board] fails to address one of an applicant’s stated grounds for relief, the case must be
remanded for the [Board] to consider the claim”); Mahmood v. Gonzales,
427 F.3d 248,
252-53 (3d Cir. 2005) (noting that unless “the outcome is clear as a matter of law,” the
question of “[w]hether an alien has exercised due diligence generally should be
determined by the [agency] in the first instance, and typically a remand [is] in order
absent a finding of diligence (or lack thereof)”).
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, we will grant the petition for review, vacate the Board’s
order, and remand to the Board for further consideration consistent with this opinion.
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