Opinion ID: 624707
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motion to Re-Open

Text: [A] motion to reopen alleges new facts that bear upon the agency's earlier decision. Ghahremani, 498 F.3d at 997 n. 1. The BIA's regulations state that [a] motion to reopen proceedings shall not be granted unless it appears to the Board that evidence sought to be offered is material and was not available and could not have been discovered or presented at the former hearing. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(1). We conclude the BIA abused its discretion by rejecting the new evidence. Arrozal v. INS, 159 F.3d 429, 432-33 (9th Cir. 1998). Oyeniran offered a legitimate and plausible explanation that he first learned about the warrant when he called his father in late 2009 and the secretary told him about it. See Malty v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 942, 947 (9th Cir.2004); Ordonez v. INS, 345 F.3d 777, 786-87 (9th Cir. 2003). It is not sufficient that the evidence physically existed in the world at large; rather, the evidence must have been reasonably available to the petitioner. See Afriyie v. Holder, 613 F.3d 924, 937 (9th Cir.2010); Iturribarria v. INS, 321 F.3d 889, 895 (9th Cir.2003) (reversing denial of motion to reopen when evidence was not as a practical matter discoverable). Oyeniran was in custody from 2007 to 2010 in an immigration detention facility in Texas. Oyeniran's confinement supports his assertion that he could not have discovered that a judge in Nigeria issued an arrest warrant until he called his father's office in October 2009 and happened to speak to the secretary who knew about it. The slight delay between Oyeniran's discovery of the warrant in October and its submission to the BIA in December is reasonably explained by the time needed to get a copy of the warrant from Nigeria to Texas. Sidhu v. INS, 220 F.3d 1085, 1091-92 (9th Cir.2000) (recognizing difficulty of obtaining evidence from foreign countries). Moreover, the new evidence is significant, dramatic, and compelling. The warrant shows that the Nigerian government is actively pursuing Oyeniran for inciting and riotously challenging the spreading and propagation of Sharia laws and traditions. This political and religious charge is the basis of Oyeniran's request for CAT relief. The charge is directed against Oyeniran personally. Najmabadi v. Holder, 597 F.3d 983, 987 (9th Cir.2010) (evidence showing persecution was directed specifically at petitioner is qualitatively different than generalized information on country conditions). The warrant is also troubling because it was issued at a time when Oyeniran was in custody in the United States. Though the warrant charges conduct in Lagos State and claims that the defendant was duly served with the summons, aside from his trip to his mother's hospital bed in 2007, Oyeniran had not been in Nigeria since 1997 and denies having been served. The new evidence thus supports the expert's testimony that opponents will impute the religious activities of the Archbishop to his children and that visible and vocal opposition to Sharia law is prosecuted and punished by entities of the Nigerian government. On remand, the BIA should consider the new evidence of the arrest warrant along with all of the other new evidence presented to decide Oyeniran's application for deferral.