{"id":534,"date":"2017-06-27T10:37:08","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T17:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hillandpiibe.com\/?p=534\/"},"modified":"2024-08-07T13:08:59","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T20:08:59","slug":"ninth-circuit-criticizes-bia-failing-exercise-thoughtfulness-analyzing-new-evidence-ethiopian-torture-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hillandpiibe.com\/en\/asylum-withholding-convention-against-torture\/2017\/06\/27\/ninth-circuit-criticizes-bia-failing-exercise-thoughtfulness-analyzing-new-evidence-ethiopian-torture-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninth Circuit Criticizes The BIA For Failing To Exercise Thoughtfulness When Analyzing New Evidence In An Ethiopian Torture Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit ruled on a case that gives good guidance on two potentially complex issues.\u00a0 In\u00a0Agonafer v. Sessions<\/a><\/em>, the Court first examined its jurisdiction to consider a late-filed Motion to Reopen a removal\/deportation case for purposes of considering protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).\u00a0 Such motions generally have a deadline of 90 days, but Agonafer filed his about five years after he was ordered removed.\u00a0 There is an exception to the 90-day deadline for \u201cchanged country conditions,\u201d and he argued that conditions in Ethiopia had changed and grown more dangerous for homosexuals, such as himself.<\/p>\n

However, he also had a criminal conviction which normally could have prevented the Ninth Circuit from taking jurisdiction over his case.\u00a0 The Court first had to determine whether it had jurisdiction to hear his appeal, and if so, then it had to determine whether his motion was filed too late.<\/p>\n

Jurisdictional issues can be complex, and it is a frequent subject in the appeals that Hill & Piibe files with the Ninth Circuit.\u00a0 Many petitioners do not catch this issue, and have their appeals denied because they fail to convince the Court that it has the power to even hear their cases.\u00a0 In Agonafer\u2019s case, the Court confirmed that an exception allowed it to take jurisdiction if Agonafer was raising a mixed question of law and fact.\u00a0 And indeed he was, because he was asking the Court to apply \u201cthe legal standard for prevailing on a motion to reopen based on changed country conditions to the established facts in the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving on, the Ninth Circuit then examined whether the lower appellate court (the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)) had abused its discretion when denying Agonafer\u2019s motion to reopen for being late.\u00a0 The \u201cchanged country conditions\u201d deadline exception can be a tricky one to establish, because the immigration courts have a tendency to hold that conditions are not \u201cchanged,\u201d but are merely \u201congoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Agonafer\u2019s case, the Department of Homeland Security made its typical argument: that homosexuals were in the same danger now as they were when the immigration court last considered his case five years beforehand.\u00a0 The DHS also required that Agonafer show \u201cindividualized relevancy,\u201d meaning evidence that demonstrated he would be targeted personally.\u00a0 This is far more narrow than looking at general treatment of homosexuals in the nation and concluding that\u00a0all<\/u>\u00a0homosexuals, including Agonafer, could be in danger.<\/p>\n

The Ninth Circuit granted Agonafer\u2019s appeal, and its decision will be an important foothold for future petitioners because it criticized the BIA for making generalized rejections of Agonafer\u2019s evidence.\u00a0 Agonafer had pointed to details in the news reports he submitted, which showed that violence against homosexuals had increased in Ethiopia. \u00a0The Court held that the BIA failed to show that it had \u201cheard and thought\u201d about these details, and instead it \u201cmerely reacted\u201d by dismissing the evidence as a mere continuance of previous circumstances. \u00a0Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit also rejected the burdensome notion of \u201cindividualized relevancy\u201d since all homosexuals were at risk of harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanged country conditions\u201d is an issue that Hill & Piibe has had to litigate many times, and it is frustrating when immigration courts pay little attention to new evidence. \u00a0This new case is very welcome precedent for future appeals.<\/p>\n

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit ruled on a case that gives good guidance on two potentially complex issues.\u00a0 In\u00a0Agonafer v. Sessions, the Court first examined its jurisdiction to consider a late-filed Motion to Reopen a removal\/deportation case for purposes of considering protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).\u00a0 Such motions generally have a deadline of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30,1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asylum-withholding-convention-against-torture","category-deportation-removal-detention","category-news","category-legal-analysis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNinth Circuit Criticizes The BIA For Failing To Exercise Thoughtfulness When Analyzing New Evidence In An Ethiopian Torture Case • Hill & Piibe, Immigration Attorneys<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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