Opinion ID: 40378
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Regulatory Implementation of the INA

Text: 15 On the INA's statutory foundation, the Attorney General has constructed an administrative dichotomy that divides the review of removal orders between two fora: (1) the IJ, who can hear motions to reopen and motions to reconsider his removal orders 21 ; and (2) the Board, which hears appeals from orders of IJs, as well as motions to reopen and to reconsider its own appellate decisions. 22 The INA itself, however, does not envision the use of such a bifurcated review process: The Board is purely an administrative creation. 23 The INA merely establishes the two types of motions to reopen (a § 1229a(b)(5)(C) motion to reopen an in absentia removal order and a § 1229a(c)(6) general motion to reopen) and the motion to reconsider; because the INA does not create the Board, it does not specify to which adjudicator — the Board or the IJ — a § 1229a(b)(5)(C) motion to reopen an in absentia removal order (which is the type of motion Singh purported to file in 2004) must be presented. 16 The Board has endeavored to fill this lacuna through its implementing regulations. The Board's regulations are not a model of clarity, however, for the purpose of determining in which forum (the IJ or the Board) an alien must file a § 1229(b)(5)(C) motion to reopen an in absentia removal order. For example, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23 24 — titled Reopening or reconsideration before the Immigration Court  25 — is the specific regulatory provision that addresses the extended time limits within which motions to reopen in absentia removal orders may be filed. In parallel, a subsection of 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 — titled Reopening or reconsideration before the Board of Immigration Appeals  26 — also addresses the extended time limits associated with motions to reopen in absentia removal orders. 27 Ultimately, it is this duplication that gives rise to the confusion in this case. 17 The Board cut this Gordian knot by ruling as a matter of law that under the INA and the Board's implementing regulations, motions to reopen in absentia removal orders must be presented to the IJ, not to the Board. 28 It thus concluded that Singh's 2004 motion to reopen, which he filed with the Board, was a § 1229(c)(6) motion to reopen the Board's 2001 denial of Singh's appeal from the IJ's denial of his 2001 § 1229a(b)(5)(C) motion to reopen the in absentia removal order, not a new § 1229a(b)(5)(C) motion to reopen the in absentia removal order. 18 As this is an interpretation of both the INA and the Board's own regulations, we must accord deference to the Board's legal conclusion. And, as we cannot find the Board's conclusion to be unreasonable, we deny Singh's petitions for review. 19