Opinion ID: 3034855
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Filing Within The Voluntary Departure Period

Text: In Azarte, we stated that “[o]ur ability to toll the voluntary departure period is predicated on the fact that the Azartes filed their motion to reopen before their period for voluntary depar13 In so holding, we overruled our prior analysis in Shaar v. INS, 141 F.3d 953 (9th Cir. 1998). See Azarte, 394 F.3d at 1286 (holding that “because the rationales that underlay Shaar are no longer applicable after IIRIRA, Shaar does not control our decision in this case.”). The Third and Eighth Circuits have since followed Azarte and rejected the Shaar approach. See Kanivets, 424 F.3d at 335 (holding that “tolling applies during the period of time that the BIA deliberates on a timely motion to reopen.”); Sidikhouya v. Gonzales, 407 F.3d 950, 952 (8th Cir. 2005) (same). 15414 BARROSO v. GONZALES ture elapsed.” 394 F.3d at 1288 n.20. Where an alien files his motion after his voluntary departure period has expired, the law in this circuit is clear that the BIA may properly deny the motion on that basis. See De Martinez v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 759, 763 (9th Cir. 2004) (holding that BIA did not err in denying relief where alien moved to reopen her proceedings in the BIA thirty days after the expiration of her voluntary departure period); see also Zazueta-Carrillo v. Ashcroft, 322 F.3d 1166, 1174 (9th Cir. 2003) (same, where alien moved to reopen forty-four days after expiration of his voluntary departure period). [3] A motion to reconsider must be filed within thirty days of the date of entry of a final administrative order of removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(6)(B). In its February 20, 2003 decision, the BIA granted Barroso a thirty-day voluntary departure period. Therefore, the deadlines for filing Barroso’s motion to reconsider and the expiration of Barroso’s voluntary departure period fell on the same date: Saturday, March 22, 2003. When the thirty-day deadline for filing a motion to reconsider expires on a Saturday, the motion is due on the next business day, which in this case was Monday, March 24, 2003. See In re Lopez, 1998 BIA LEXIS 10, at  n.1 (1998); see also 8 C.F.R. § 1003.38(b) (“If the final date for filing [an appeal to the BIA] falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, this appeal time shall be extended to the next business day.”). Therefore, under the BIA’s regulations, Barroso’s motion to reconsider was timely if it was filed on Monday, March 24th. The government stated in its opening brief that Barroso’s motion was received on March 24th.14 The government also 14 In its brief, the government erroneously claimed that Barroso’s motion to reconsider “arguably” should have been treated as a motion to reopen because March 24th was “over thirty days” after the Board’s decision. However, as we have explained, the motion to reconsider was not due until March 24th and thus was timely filed. In addition, although Barroso’s motion claimed ineffective assistance of counsel, it does not fit within BARROSO v. GONZALES 15415 conceded at oral argument that Barroso’s motion was filed within the voluntary departure period. However, the government alleges for the first time in its supplemental brief that the motion was not filed within the voluntary departure period because the BIA’s filing receipt for the motion was dated April 2, 2003. As a general matter, an issue is “deemed waived if it is raised for the first time in a supplemental brief.” Devereaux v. Abbey, 263 F.3d 1070, 1079 (9th Cir. 2001) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the government, to the detriment of the petitioner, sought in a supplemental brief to change the facts on the basis of which an issue had been briefed and argued, without offering any explanation for its earlier representation to the court. Whether we treat its change in position as constituting a new claim or simply an attempt to withdraw the factual basis for its argument and substitute a contrary set of facts, we conclude that we will not consider it when raised for the first time in a supplemental brief. However, even if we were to consider the government’s newly stated version of the facts, we would reject its argument. Our review of the record shows that the motion was in fact filed on March 24th. The record demonstrates that it was stamped by the BIA clerk’s office two times: one stamp dated March 24, 2003, the other stamp dated April 2, 2003.15 The this court’s holding in Iturribarria v. INS, because Barroso had already claimed ineffective assistance of counsel in his appeal and his motion was not supported by “new evidence that was purportedly not discoverable at an earlier stage.” 321 F.3d 889, 897 (9th Cir. 2003); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(B) (“The motion to reopen shall state the new facts that will be proven at a hearing to be held if the motion is granted . . . .”). Therefore, we conclude that the BIA properly treated the motion as a motion to reconsider. 15 The BIA Practice Manual, the BIA’s official guidance on filing procedures and requirements, states that the date stamp is controlling in the computation of whether a filing is timely. BIA Prac. Man., Ch. 3.1(b) (2004). 15416 BARROSO v. GONZALES record reveals that the BIA first received the motion on March 24th, but sent a notice to Barroso’s counsel on March 25th informing him that the motion listed the incorrect alien registration number. On March 28th, Barroso’s counsel sent a letter correcting the registration number, and that letter was stamped as received on April 2, 2003. Thus, our review of the record shows that Barroso’s motion was first filed on March 24th. [4] Moreover, if Barroso’s motion to reconsider had not been filed within the thirty day deadline, the BIA would have dismissed it as untimely. See BIA Prac. Man., Ch. 3.1(c)(iii) (“If a motion is untimely, the motion is denied.”) (citing 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(b)(2)). Here, the BIA did not do so. Accordingly, we conclude that Barroso’s motion to reconsider was timely filed within the 30-day period required by 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(6)(B). Not only was his motion timely filed on March 24th, but we also conclude that by filing on March 24th, it was filed within Barroso’s voluntary departure period. As we noted above, the government conceded at oral argument that the motion was filed within the voluntary departure period and therefore waived any claim that it was not so filed.16 However, in the interest of thoroughness, we briefly explain why March 24th is both the proper deadline date for filing Barroso’s motion to reconsider and the expiration date of his voluntary departure period. While, as we have already noted, the BIA’s regulations address how to calculate the due date for a motion to reconsider when the date falls on a weekend day, the only relevant Departments of Justice and Homeland Security regulations governing voluntary departure periods, 8 C.F.R. § 240.25 and 16 We note that the government contended in its initial brief that March 24th was “several days after the thirty-day period allotted for voluntary departure.” BARROSO v. GONZALES 15417 8 C.F.R. § 1240.26 respectively, do not offer any guidance as to how to treat weekend days when they are the last calendar day of the voluntary departure period. Nor does the relevant statutory provision provide any guidance on the calculation of the period: the time limit on periods of voluntary departure contained in 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(b)(2) does not refer to a start or end date, but merely prescribes that “permission” to depart voluntarily “shall not be valid for a period exceeding 60 days.” In Salvador-Calleros v. Ashcroft, this court was presented with the same question of how to calculate the expiration of the voluntary departure period when the last calendar day falls on a weekend day. 389 F.3d 959 (9th Cir. 2004). The petitioner in Salvador-Calleros filed both her petition for review with this court and her motion for stay of voluntary departure on Monday, June 17, 2002, and the thirty-day deadline for both filings technically fell on Saturday, June 15, 2002. Id. at 964. While the government conceded that her petition for review was timely filed, it argued that the motion to stay voluntary departure was untimely because it was filed on the 32nd day. This court held that because “Congress has [not] specified a method of counting days in a statute governing [this] particular procedure,” it should apply 26(a)(3) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure when computing the expiration of voluntary departure periods such that the period “actually expire[s] the following Monday.”17 Id. at 964-65. In so holding, the court observed the need to avoid “unnecessary confusion” where “there are two separate but related thirtyday periods that relate back to the same order and start running on the same exact date.” Id. at 965. [5] Here too, we are faced with “two separate but related 17 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(a)(3) provides that when counting days in order to compute a period’s expiration date, the court should “[i]nclude the last day of the period unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday . . . .” 15418 BARROSO v. GONZALES thirty-day periods that . . . start running on the same exact date”: the thirty-day period for filing a motion to reconsider and Barroso’s thirty-day period for voluntary departure. The BIA regulations directly speak to the computation of the former, but are silent as to the latter. We conclude that where the deadline for filing a motion to reconsider falls on the same day as the expiration of the voluntary departure period, the proper solution is to apply the same rule to both thirty-day periods.18 Such an approach not only avoids “unnecessary confusion” but also effectuates the purpose of both the voluntary departure and motion to reconsider statutory provisions and provides a “workable procedure for motions to [reconsider] in cases in which aliens are granted voluntary departure.” Azarte, 394 F.3d at 1289. Therefore, we conclude that by filing his motion to reconsider on March 24th, Barroso’s motion was filed within the voluntary departure period.19