Opinion ID: 2974609
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The BIA’s Failure to Exercise Discretion

Text: Patel also raises the argument that the BIA failed to use any discretion, in that, while it adopted and affirmed the IJ’s decision, it rejected the IJ’s determination that Patel was a persecutor. Because the IJ based his decision to deny Patel’s request for voluntary departure exclusively on the grounds that Patel was a persecutor himself, it was illogical for the BIA ultimately to affirm the IJ’s decision in full. The BIA Decision was silent on the question of voluntary departure. The only way to make sense of the BIA Decision is to conclude that the BIA did not exercise any discretion whatsoever. We conclude that, as a matter of law, when the BIA rejects the underlying reason for an IJ’s decision to deny voluntary departure, and then makes no determination of its own on the voluntary departure issue, the BIA has not exercised any discretion. Therefore, we remand to the BIA so that it may exercise its discretion on the question of whether Patel is entitled to voluntary departure.