Filed: Jan. 11, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-1615 _ FATIMA ABREU-NUNEZ, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of a Decision of the United States Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals (A096-207-088) Immigration Judge: Rosalind K. Malloy _ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) on January 10, 2019 Before: AMBRO, BIBAS, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges (Filed: January 11, 2019) _ OPINION* _
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-1615 _ FATIMA ABREU-NUNEZ, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of a Decision of the United States Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals (A096-207-088) Immigration Judge: Rosalind K. Malloy _ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) on January 10, 2019 Before: AMBRO, BIBAS, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges (Filed: January 11, 2019) _ OPINION* _ ..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
_______________
No. 18-1615
_______________
FATIMA ABREU-NUNEZ,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent
_______________
On Petition for Review of a Decision of the
United States Department of Justice
Board of Immigration Appeals
(A096-207-088)
Immigration Judge: Rosalind K. Malloy
_______________
Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
on January 10, 2019
Before: AMBRO, BIBAS, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges
(Filed: January 11, 2019)
_______________
OPINION*
______________
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and, under I.O.P. 5.7, does not
constitute binding precedent.
BIBAS, Circuit Judge.
The Board of Immigration Appeals has unfettered discretion not to reopen proceedings
sua sponte. We normally lack jurisdiction to review such denials. But there are two
exceptions, only one of which matters here: we would have jurisdiction if the Board were
to implement a rule, policy, or settled course of action that meaningfully limited its
discretion. But it has never done so. So we will dismiss the petition for review.
In 2008, the Board ordered Fatima Abreu-Nunez to leave the United States voluntarily
or be removed. But she did not leave, nor was she removed. Years later, her daughter, a
U.S. citizen, successfully filed an immigration petition on her mother’s behalf. So Abreu-
Nunez asked the Board to reopen her case sua sponte and to adjust her status, arguing that
she is now eligible for lawful permanent residence. The Board denied her motion,
reasoning that “becoming potentially eligible for adjustment [of status] is common,” not
an exceptional circumstance that justifies reopening. AR 3. Now Abreu-Nunez petitions
for review of that denial.
The Board has discretion to reopen removal proceedings sua sponte. 8 C.F.R.
§ 1003.2(a). When the Board decides not to do so, we lack jurisdiction to review those
decisions, subject to two exceptions. Sang Goo Park v. Att’y Gen.,
846 F.3d 645, 651-52
(3d Cir. 2017). One of those is when the Board “has limited its discretion via a policy, rule,
settled course of adjudication, or by some other method” that gives us a meaningful basis
to review the Board’s decision.
Id. at 653. That exception exists in theory but not in
practice, at least not yet; we have yet to find a meaningful basis to review a denial of a
motion to reopen sua sponte.
2
Abreu-Nunez advances two reasons why she qualifies for this exception, but both fail.
First, she argues that the Board’s exceptional-circumstance standard gives us a meaningful
basis for review. But in Sang Goo Park, we held that denials for lack of exceptional
circumstances are unreviewable.
Id. at 655. Second, she argues that the Board has a settled
course of reopening cases sua sponte to allow for adjustment of status. Yet in Sang Goo
Park, we also observed that the Board has no settled course of doing so.
Id. at 654. Since
the Board has not limited its discretion, we lack jurisdiction to review its failure to reopen
here. So we will dismiss the petition for review.
3