Vachakan Balyan v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Vachakan Balyan, his wife Anahit Mar-garyan, and their son Vardan Balyan petition for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA” or “Board”), which affirmed an immigration judge’s denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture, and which also denied petitioners’ motion to remand proceedings to the immigration judge. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a). Although we find no reversible error in the BIA’s decision with respect to petitioners’ claims for asylum and related relief, we conclude that the BIA abused its discretion in denying petitioners’ motion to re mand. We therefore grant the petition and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Vachakan Balyan, Anahit Margaryan, and Vardan Balyan are Armenian natives and citizens. They arrived in the United States as non-immigrant visitors in October 2000. The following month, Vachakan Balyan applied for asylum, naming his wife and son as derivative beneficiaries. An asylum officer denied Balyan’s application, and the petitioners were placed in removal proceedings. Petitioners conceded remov-ability but indicated that they wished to pursue Balyan’s…