Opinion ID: 38340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether this Court has jurisdiction to review motions to reopen.

Text: 13 Jurisdiction under INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). 14 To begin, the government argues that this Court lacks jurisdiction to review the BIA's denial of the motion to reopen because, under INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(ii), now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), 2 review of discretionary decisions is prohibited. The government contends that although the statute allowing motions to reopen does not per se state that a decision regarding a motion to reopen is within the sole or unreviewable discretion of the Attorney General, 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(6), such determinations are universally recognized as inherently discretionary. See, e.g., INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 323-24, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992) (noting Attorney General's broad discretion to deny motions to reopen). The Manzanos contend this Court retains jurisdiction under § 1252(a) over an appeal from a final order of a denial of the BIA of a motion to reopen. 15 This Court recently undertook to resolve this precise issue — the degree to which 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) ... precludes judicial review of motions to reopen immigration proceedings. Zhao v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 295, 301-02 (5th Cir.2005). There, the Court noted that it is a federal regulation, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23(b)(3), 3 and not any statute, which furnishes the amount of discretion that the Attorney General enjoys when considering motions to reopen. Zhao, 404 F.3d at 303. The Court continued on to discuss how due to this regulatory-provided discretion, § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) could mistakenly be read: 16 as stripping us of the authority to review any discretionary immigration decision. That reading, however, is incorrect, because § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) strips us only of jurisdiction to review discretionary authority specified in the statute. The statutory language is uncharacteristically pellucid on this score; it does not allude generally to discretionary authority or to discretionary authority exercised under this statute,  but specifically to authority for which is specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General. 17 Id. Thus, the Court found it had jurisdiction to review the BIA's denial of the petitioner's motion to reopen because the BIA had not exercised any statutorily provided discretion under the subchapter of title 8 governing immigration proceedings, but instead had exercised discretion as delineated by a regulation of the Attorney General. Id. This is the precise case here; the BIA exercised its regulatory-granted discretion to deny the Manzanos' motion to reopen their removal proceedings. Therefore, we retain the authority to review this motion to reopen under § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). See id. 18 Jurisdiction under INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). 19 The government also makes the argument that this Court lacks jurisdiction pursuant to INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(i), now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i), which states that we cannot review any judgment regarding the granting of relief under section 1182(h), 1182(i), 1229b, 1229c, or 1255 of this title. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). The government contends § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) bars our review because the BIA's exercise of its authority to deny reopening the Manzanos' proceedings was a discretionary decision that relates to INA § 245, 8 U.S.C. § 1255, which governs adjustment of status. The government also insists Rodriguez v. Ashcroft, 253 F.3d 797, 799-800 (5th Cir.2001) (per curiam), where this Court determined that it had no jurisdiction to review the BIA's denial of a petitioner's motion to reopen, controls such that we cannot review the Manzanos' motion to reopen. 20 In Rodriguez, the IJ concluded that the petitioner had failed to establish that he would suffer extreme hardship should he be deported and thus denied his application for suspension of deportation under INA § 244, 8 U.S.C. § 1254 (now repealed). Id. at 798. The BIA affirmed; the petitioner did not appeal but instead filed a motion for reconsideration in light of new evidence, which the BIA treated as a motion to reopen. Id. at 798-99. The BIA concluded the new evidence was insufficient to change its prior decision. Id. at 799. The petitioner appealed, arguing that the BIA abused its discretion in affirming the IJ's conclusion that he failed to establish that he would suffer extreme hardship if deported. Id. We acknowledged that Congress has expressly precluded our consideration of the merits of [the petitioner's] claim that the BIA abused its discretion in denying his application for suspension of deportation pursuant to INA § 244 for his failure to establish that he would suffer extreme hardship if deported to his native country. Id. Thus, because § 309(c)(4)(E) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) prohibited review of discretionary decisions relating to the INA § 244 element of extreme hardship, we held: 21 It is axiomatic that if we are divested of jurisdiction to review an original determination by the [BIA] that an alien has failed to establish that he would suffer extreme hardship if deported, we must also be divested of jurisdiction to review the [BIA]'s denial of a motion to reopen on the ground that the alien has still failed to establish such hardship. 22 Id. at 800; see also IIRIRA § 309(c)(4)(E) ([T]here shall be no appeal of any discretionary decision under section 212(c), 212(h), 212(i), 244, or 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.). We noted that [t]o hold otherwise would create a loophole that would thwart the clear intent of Congress that the courts not review the discretionary decisions of the BIA. Id. Thus, in Rodriguez, we considered if we had jurisdiction pursuant to the IIRIRA equivalent of § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) and determined we did not because § 309(c)(4)(E) expressly precluded our review of the merits of extreme hardship determinations under INA § 244. See id. at 800 (distinguishing Arrozal v. INS, 159 F.3d 429 (9th Cir.1998), because there the merits of the denial to reopen ... involved a deportation order under INA § 241(a)(2) for the petitioner overstaying her visa, not her request for suspension of deportation under INA § 244). 23 Here, unlike in Rodriguez, we would not have been precluded from reviewing the original determination of the BIA, which summarily affirmed the IJ's decision in his order of removal that the Manzanos had not shown good cause to merit another continuance, because that judgment did not relate to any of the delineated subsections of title 8 we cannot review under § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). Instead, the IJ ordered, and the BIA affirmed, the Manzanos removable under INA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). The IJ did not make any discretionary determination based on voluntary departure or adjustment of status pursuant to his statutorily granted discretion under 8 U.S.C. § 1229c or § 1255. Rather, the IJ expressly noted that the Manzanos had abandoned their request for voluntary departure and that there was no adjustment of status application yet submitted to the court because there was no current, approved immigrant visa petition and no visa petition had yet been filed. The IJ's denial of continuance and the BIA's summary affirmance of that decision were indeed discretionary; however, such discretion is authorized pursuant to regulation, not to any statute outlined in § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.29 (The Immigration Judge may grant a motion for continuance for good cause shown.). 4 Therefore, Rodriguez does not preclude our review here. 24 As for any argument that we lack jurisdiction because the Manzanos' motion to reopen relates to a request for adjustment of Mr. Manzano's status, this would clearly be the case if the BIA had actually made a discretionary determination on the merits to deny such adjustment of status under INA § 245, 8 U.S.C. § 1255. See Medina-Morales v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 520, 526 (9th Cir.2004) (If the denial of [the petitioner's] motion to reopen was a judgment regarding the granting of relief under ... § 1255 ..., then we are without jurisdiction to review the discretionary aspects of the BIA's decision.). However, the parties' arguments on appeal here only relate to the allegedly erroneous factual and legal findings of the BIA in denying the Manzanos their motion to reopen their removal proceedings, not to any alleged factual or legal errors made by the BIA in any decision to actually deny Mr. Manzano adjustment of status under § 1255. 25 Mr. Manzano's basis for the reopening of removal proceedings was that his visa petition had now been approved; that is, he alleged he was now prima facie eligible for an adjustment of status pursuant to INA § 245(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i). The government opposed the reopening because [t]he crucial information in this case ... is not new and could have been presented earlier. Under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (formerly 8 C.F.R. § 3.2), the BIA could not grant the motion to reopen unless it found that Mr. Manzano's new evidence was 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) (emphasis added). The record indicates that the BIA denied the Manzanos' motion to reopen because of Mr. Manzano's prior dilatory actions in not promptly filling out the requisite paperwork and applying for his visa such that at the time the Manzanos sought yet another continuance from the IJ and were deemed removable under INA § 242(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), Mr. Manzano was still not eligible to apply for adjustment of status under § 1255. 26 Apparently, the BIA determined that Mr. Manzano's tardiness in applying for his visa, particularly where multiple continuances had been granted by the IJ, meant his approved visa could feasibly have been presented at some time during the former proceeding for him to apply for adjustment of status. Thus, we reasonably infer that the BIA denied the motion to reopen based on the second ground enumerated in INS v. Abudu, 485 U.S. 94, 108 S.Ct. 904, 99 L.Ed.2d 90 (1988): the movant has not introduced previously unavailable, material evidence, 8 CFR § 3.2. 5 Id. at 104-05, 108 S.Ct. 904. But see Mickeviciute v. INS, 327 F.3d 1159, 1163 (10th Cir.2003) (remanding where it was not clear on what ground of Abudu the BIA had relied to deny a motion to reopen). Here, the BIA denied the Manzanos' motion to reopen pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 and the new evidence ground of Abudu. See 485 U.S. at 105, 108 S.Ct. 904. The BIA thus ultimately affirmed its prior affirmance of the Manzanos' removability under § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i); it did not make an adverse determination of the merits of Mr. Manzano's application for adjustment of status under § 1255. 27 As the government acknowledges, courts from other Circuits have held that the analogous judicial review provision of IIR-IRA, § 309(c)(4)(E), does not bar a court's jurisdiction over a motion to reopen where the denial is not based on the merits of any delineated barred subsection. 6 One court has held such in the context of INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). See Medina-Morales, 371 F.3d at 527 (finding BIA's denial of motion to reopen was a decision affirming removal under § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), not based on an adverse determination of the merits under § 1229c or § 1255, and thus was not barred from review by § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i)). We agree with such reasoning here and hold that review of the BIA's denial of the Manzanos' motion to reopen pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 is not barred by § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) because such denial was an affirmance of their removability under § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), not an adverse determination of the merits of Mr. Manzano's requested adjustment of status under § 1255. 28