CA10 Sua Sponte Reopening Remand: Berdiev v. Garland

Berdiev v. Garland

"On equitable tolling, we conclude that the Board did not abuse its discretion. On the exercise of the Board’s sua sponte reopening authority, however, we conclude that the Board at least partly relied on a legally erroneous—and thus invalid—rationale, and we cannot determine whether the Board would have reached the same outcome independently based solely on valid reasons. Accordingly, exercising jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), the Court grants Berdiev’s petitions for review, vacates the Board’s two orders solely as to the suasponte reopening decision, and remands to the Board to reconsider that decision in light of our opinion."

[Hats off to Andrew Bramante and Hans Meyer!]