Opinion ID: 170897
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Mr. Hedziun, a native and citizen of Belarus, entered the United States in June 1999 and overstayed his student visa. He was served with a notice to appear in 2004, and he filed an asylum application in 2005. Petitioner failed to appear at a scheduled hearing on October 24, 2006, and the IJ entered a removal order in absentia. After being detained by the Department of Homeland Security, and nearly five months after the removal order was entered, he filed a motion in the Immigration Court under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23(b) to reopen his case and rescind the order. Asserting that his counsel’s ineffective assistance caused him to miss the hearing, he sought equitable tolling of the time period for filing his motion. The IJ denied the motion to reopen. The IJ also denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration, which he appealed to the BIA. The BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision and dismissed the appeal. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review We have jurisdiction to review the agency’s denial of Mr. Hedziun’s motion for reconsideration. 1 See Infanzon v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1359, 1361-62 1 We do not have jurisdiction to review the IJ’s in-absentia removal order or (continued...) -2- (10th Cir. 2004) (holding motions to reopen and reconsider are discretionary decisions subject to judicial review). Because his motion for reconsideration involved an order of removal entered in absentia, our jurisdiction is “confined to (i) the validity of the notice provided to the alien, (ii) the reasons for the alien’s not attending the proceeding, and (iii) whether or not the alien is removable.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5)(D); see Tang v. Ashcroft, 354 F.3d 1192, 1194 (10th Cir. 2003). Notwithstanding that jurisdictional limitation, we may also review “constitutional claims or questions of law.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D). Petitioner does not contend that he failed to receive notice of the hearing or that he is not removable. In his petition for review he addresses only the reason for his failure to attend the hearing, asserting a constitutional claim that his due process rights were violated by his counsel’s ineffective assistance. We review the agency’s denial of a motion for reconsideration for an abuse of discretion. See Belay-Gebru v. I.N.S., 327 F.3d 998, 1000 n.5 (10th Cir. 2003). “The BIA abuses its discretion when its decision provides no rational explanation, inexplicably departs from established policies, is devoid of any reasoning, or 1 (...continued) the IJ’s denial of Mr. Hedziun’s motion to reopen because he did not exhaust administrative remedies by seeking review of those decisions with the BIA. See Rivera-Zurita v. I.N.S., 946 F.2d 118, 120 n.2 (10th Cir. 1991) (“The failure to raise an issue on appeal to the Board constitutes failure to exhaust administrative remedies with respect to that question and deprives the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction to hear the matter.”). -3- contains only summary or conclusory statements.” Tang, 354 F.3d at 1194 (quotation omitted). Because a single member of the BIA affirmed the IJ’s denial of petitioner’s motion for reconsideration in a brief order, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(e)(5), we review the BIA’s order rather than the decision of the IJ, see Uanreroro v. Gonzales, 443 F.3d 1197, 1204 (10th Cir. 2006). “However, when seeking to understand the grounds provided by the BIA, we are not precluded from consulting the IJ’s more complete explanation of those same grounds.” Id. at 1204.