Montejo-Gonzalez

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CLAUDIA ELENA MONTEJO- No. 21-304

GONZALEZ; DANY JUAN

Agency Nos.

FRANCISCO MONTEJO; MARIA

A201-670-355

NATALIA FRANCISCO

A201-670-354

MONTEJO,

A201-670-353

Petitioners,

OPINION

v.

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,

Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Argued and Submitted October 5, 2023 Pasadena, California

Filed October 17, 2024

Before: Daniel P. Collins, Salvador Mendoza, Jr., and Roopali H. Desai, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Desai; Dissent by Judge Collins MONTEJO-GONZALEZ V. GARLAND

SUMMARY *

Immigration

Granting Claudia Elena Montejo-Gonzalez’s petition for review a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals, and remanding, the panel held that the facts of this case amounted to exceptional circumstances warranting reopening of her in absentia removal order and those of her minor children. As relevant here, an in absentia removal order may be rescinded upon a motion to reopen if the noncitizen demonstrates that the failure to appear at the removal hearing was because of “exceptional…