Opinion ID: 774878
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Scope of Our Review

Text: 21 Before examining the merits of the appeal, we must define the extent to which the administrative proceedings may be reviewed in this Court. In 1996 Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-208, Div. C, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-546 (IIRIRA or Act). IIRIRA, in pertinent part, repealed § 106 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1105a, which had provided for judicial review of deportation and exclusion orders. See IIRIRA § 306(b), 110 Stat. at 3009-612. 22 Yet that repeal does not affect this case because under transitional provisions in IIRIRA, which are not codified in the United States Code, see id. § 309, 110 Stat. at 3009-625, the final provisions pertaining to removal procedures shall not apply to an alien like petitioner who was in exclusion or deportation proceedings at the time the amendments took effect. Id. § 309(c)(1), 110 Stat. at 3009-625. IIRIRA § 309(c)(4)(A) explains that judicial review of final exclusion or deportation orders entered in such cases after October 30, 1996 is governed by INA § 106(a) and (c), 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a) and (c), as those subsections existed prior to the Act's amendments. Hence, although petitioner seeks review of his motion for reconsideration, such review in a transitional case is still governed by the former 8 U.S.C. § 1105a. See Iavorski v. U.S. INS, 232 F.3d 124, 128 n.2 (2d Cir. 2000) (reviewing motions to reopen); see also Henderson v. INS, 157 F.3d 106, 117 (2d Cir. 1998). 23 The pre-IIRIRA version of § 1105a instructed that any review sought with respect to a motion to reopen or reconsider [a final exclusion or deportation] order shall be consolidated with the review of the order. 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(6) (1994). Important for purposes of this case, this statutory provision was interpreted to mean that an appeal from a final order of exclusion or deportation and an appeal from a denial of a motion to reopen or reconsider that final order involved two separate petitions filed to review two separate final orders. Stone v. INS, 514 U.S. 386, 405 (1995). Once petitioner's exclusion order was affirmed by the Board, it became final. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(47)(B) (Supp. V 1999). Under former § 1105a(a)(1), petitioner had 90 days to file a petition for review of the final order but he failed to do so, and his filing of a motion for reconsideration did not toll the time for filing a petition to review. Stone, 514 U.S. at 398, 405-06. 24 Thus, the appeal before us brings up for review only the Board's denial of the motion to reconsider. See Anderson v. McElroy, 953 F.2d 803, 806 (2d Cir. 1992) (explaining that since petitioner failed to bring direct appeal from deportation order, only the Board's denial of a stay of deportation sought with a motion to reopen could be reviewed). Because we are precluded from passing on the merits of the underlying exclusion proceedings, petitioner's assertions that he received no due process at his hearing and that the immigration judge's credibility determination was not based on substantial evidence are not before us. II Motion to Reopen v. Motion to Reconsider 25 Before examining the denial of the motion to reconsider, we pause to analyze petitioner's challenge to the Board's conversion of his motion for reconsideration to a motion to reopen. The Board has ruled that these motions are separate and distinct and are not interchangeable. See In re Cerna, 20 I. & N. Dec. 399, 402 (BIA Oct. 7, 1991) (quoting Chudshevid v. INS, 641 F.2d 780, 783 (9th Cir. 1981)). 26 Prior to IIRIRA, regulations promulgated by the Attorney General provided the only authority for filing a motion to reconsider or reopen a deportation proceeding. See INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 322 (1992). Section 304(a)(3) of IIRIRA, 110 Stat. at 3009-589, 3009-593, added provisions to 8 U.S.C. § 1229a similar to those regulations then in effect. Subsequently, the regulations were amended to reflect the changes in the statute. See Inspection and Expedited Removal of Aliens; Detention and Removal of Aliens; Conduct of Removal Proceedings; Asylum Procedures, 62 Fed. Reg. 10,312 (Mar. 6, 1997) (codified in part at 8 C.F.R. § 3.2). 27 Nonetheless, the new statutory provisions in 8 U.S.C. § 1229a are subject to the already noted transitional rules of IIRIRA and hence inapplicable to petitioner. Although the transitional rules make no mention of regulatory authority, we need not decide whether the post-IIRIRA regulations apply to petitioner's case, since the substantive content of the regulations preceding and post-dating IIRIRA is substantially the same for purposes of this appeal. The pre-IIRIRA version of the regulations is found in the Federal Register. See Executive Office for Immigration Review; Motions & Appeals in Immigration Proceedings (Motions & Appeals), 61 Fed. Reg. 18,900 (Apr. 29, 1996). The current version is found at 8 C.F.R. § 3.2 (2001). 28 Under either version of the regulations, a motion for reconsideration must specify the errors of fact or law in the Board's decision and be supported with pertinent authority. 8 C.F.R. § 3.2(b)(1); Motions & Appeals, 61 Fed. Reg. at 18,904. A motion to reconsider asserts that at the time of the Board's previous decision an error was made. In re Cerna, 20 I. & N. Dec. at 402. When the Board reconsiders it takes itself back in time and looks at the case as though a decision had never been entered. Thus, if it grants the motion, the Board considers the case anew as it existed at the time of the original decision. Id. By contrast, a motion to reopen asks that the proceedings be reopened for new evidence and a new decision, usually after an evidentiary hearing. Id. at 403. Such motions must state what new facts would be proven at a hearing and be supported by affidavits or other evidentiary material. See 8 C.F.R. § 3.2(c)(1); Motions & Appeals, 61 Fed. Reg. at 18,905. 29 In the present case, petitioner's motion included new evidence and asked for relief because proper documentation of a critical aspect of the applicant's claim [was not] made. It therefore was correctly classified as a motion to reopen. The Board also properly observed that the motion papers failed to identify a legal or factual error in its previous decision of August 26, 1998, as required for a motion to reconsider. 30 Petitioner reasons that because he attached copies of the radioactive dye tests to his motion, the Board should have deduced what he thought were the errors underlying the prior decision. But a motion for reconsideration asks the Board to reevaluate its decision on the existing factual record. See In re Cerna, 20 I. & N. Dec. at 402. Further, the Board itself has instructed that with respect to previously-barred asylum claims based on coercive family planning policies, an applicant should file a motion to reopen. See In re X-G-W-, Interim Dec. 3352, 1998 WL 378104, 1998 BIA LEXIS 18, at -9 (BIA June 25, 1998). Thus, the Board properly re-classified petitioner's motion as one to reopen his deportation case. 31