Cipto Chandra v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Petitioner Cipto Chandra (“Chandra”) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of his motion to reopen removal proceedings. After Chandra’s order of removal became final in 2005, he converted to Christianity. On March 9, 2009, Chandra filed an untimely motion to reopen on the basis that religious persecution against Christians in Indonesia had worsened since his previous hearing. Because the BIA failed to consider Chandra’s evidence of changed conditions in Indonesia in light of his conversion to Christianity, we grant the petition and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Chandra, an Indonesian citizen of Chinese descent, entered the United States in 1998 and overstayed his visa. In 2001, after the Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings, Chandra conceded removability and filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) on the ground that he faced persecution in Indonesia because of his Chinese ethnicity. In January 2002, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denied Chandra’s application for asylum as untimely, and his application for withholding…