Opinion ID: 774878
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Cursory Nature of the Board's Decision

Text: 61 The foregoing analysis amply demonstrates that by addressing the issue of petitioner's new evidence in only two sentences, the Board created controversy and confusion. Failure to explain a decision adequately provides a ground for reversal. See Anderson, 953 F.2d at 806 (cursory, summary or conclusory statements from the Board leave us to presume nothing other than an abuse of discretion). We think it best for the Board to clarify upon remand what it meant when it employed the phrase the Immigration Judge so found. Its explanation on appeal is at such odds with the plain language of its decision, that we hesitate to resolve the matter in the first instance. 62 Moreover, when faced with a motion to reopen, the Board has an obligation to consider the record as a whole. See id.; see also Blanco v. INS, 68 F.3d 642, 647 (2d Cir. 1995) (finding an abuse of discretion where the Board decided a motion to reopen without considering the record before it). Yet, in the case at hand, the Board failed to address all the factors relevant to petitioner's claim; otherwise, it would have discussed the discrepancy between the immigration judge's adverse credibility finding and its statement that the judge found a fact to which petitioner testified and which supported petitioner's claim. Analyzing this discrepancy, in addition, would have pressed the Board to explain the precedential value of In re C-Y-Z- as it pertains to this case.