Immigration — motions to reopen

Listen to this article

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Immigration — motions to reopen

The filing of a motion to reconsider an order of removal does not toll the 90-day period to file a motion to reopen until a ruling is made on the motion to reconsider.

“The Board’s interpretation of the statute, requiring parties to move to reopen within 90 days of the Board’s initial dismissal, is reasonable. To conclude otherwise would allow aliens to receive extra time to move to reopen their cases by the simple expedient of filing frivolous motions to reconsider. Moreover, rejecting the Board’s interpretation would create a circuit split with the Fifth and Ninth Circuits. See Vega v. Holder, 611 F.3d 1168, 1170-71 (9th Cir.), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Dec. 13, 2010) (No. 10-8010); William v. INS, 217 F.3d 340, 342-43 (5th Cir. 2000). Those circuits decided that the Board reasonably interpreted the applicable regulation, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2) (formerly § 3.2(c)(2)), to require a motion to reopen to be filed within 90 days of the order it is challenging, and then reasoned that a motion to reopen can only target the Board’s original dismissal. We agree with this analysis.”

Petition Denied.

11-2841 Sarmiento v. Holder

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Tinder, J.