Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca3-19-02722/USCOURTS-ca3-19-02722-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Attorney General United States of America
Respondent
Sonia Aracely Morales-Sican
Petitioner

Document Text:

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

____________

No. 19-2722

____________

SONIA ARACELY MORALES-SICAN,

Petitioner

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent

____________

On Petition for Review of a Decision 

and Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals 

(BIA-1: A098 113 572) 

Immigration Judge: Esmeralda Cabrera 

____________ 

Submitted on March 3, 2020 

Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, HARDIMAN, and KRAUSE, Circuit Judges. 

(Filed: March 26, 2020) 

____________ 

OPINION*

____________ 

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7

does not constitute binding precedent.

Case: 19-2722 Document: 28 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/26/2020
2

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

Sonia Aracely Morales-Sican petitions for review of a decision of the Board of 

Immigration Appeals denying her motion to reopen. A citizen of Guatemala, MoralesSican entered the United States without admission or inspection in 2004. That year, the 

Department of Homeland Security charged her as removable and issued her a notice to 

appear. She failed to appear, and the immigration judge (IJ) entered a removal order in 

absentia on February 24, 2005. 

In 2014, Morales-Sican moved to reopen, claiming she did not provide the address 

to which the government sent the notice to appear. The IJ denied her motion. After the IJ 

denied reconsideration in pertinent part, the BIA affirmed. Morales-Sican filed a second 

motion to reopen in August 2018 seeking asylum based on changed country conditions in 

Guatemala. Finding that Morales-Sican failed to show changed country conditions, the 

BIA denied her petition as time- and number-barred. Morales-Sican petitions this Court 

for review and we have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252.

We review the denial of a motion to reopen for abuse of discretion. See, e.g., Filja 

v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 241, 251 (3d Cir. 2006). Generally, an alien may file one motion to 

reopen, and must do so “within 90 days of the date of entry of a final administrative order 

of removal.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C)(i). If an alien seeks rescission of a removal 

order entered in absentia and can show “exceptional circumstances,” the time bar is 

Case: 19-2722 Document: 28 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/26/2020
3

extended to 180 days. Id. § 1229a(b)(5)(C)(i). But these filing limitations do not apply 

when the alien applies for asylum based on changed country conditions. See id. 

§ 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); see also 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii).

The IJ entered the final order of removal in Morales-Sican’s case on February 24, 

2005. She previously moved to reopen in 2014. So her 2018 motion to reopen is timeand number-barred, unless she can show the BIA abused its discretion in concluding she 

failed to show changed country conditions. On appeal, Morales-Sican’s attorney does not 

address this issue. He instead declares that “this matter should be remanded to the BIA 

for further consideration of” the Attorney General’s decision in In re L-E-A-, 27 I. & N. 

Dec. 581 (A.G. 2019), a case that has nothing to do with changed country conditions. 

Opening Br. 10. Because Morales-Sican has forfeited any challenge to the BIA’s 

conclusion that she failed to show changed country conditions, see, e.g., Khan v. Att’y 

Gen., 691 F.3d 488, 495 n.4 (3d Cir. 2012), and because her attorney has not presented 

any other basis on which to find an abuse of discretion, we must deny her petition for 

review.

Case: 19-2722 Document: 28 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/26/2020