Ricardo Rivera-Gomez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Ricardo Rivera-Gomez (“Rivera”), a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal of an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his motion to reopen, and denying a second motion to reopen filed before the BIA. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a), and we grant the petition and remand.

The BIA abused its discretion by concluding that Rivera’s newly-produced evidence describing recent attacks against his family by the Mara 18 and the 2009 military coup in Honduras was not “qualitatively different” from the evidence that Rivera could have presented at his previous hearing in 2003. See Najmabadi v. Holder, 597 F.3d 983, 987 (9th Cir.2010). Although the gang killed Rivera’s brother in 2001, the recent rape of and attack on his sister and death threats to his sister-in-law and niece clarify the reason why the gang has pursued Rivera. Contrary to the IJ’s and government’s position, Rivera’s persecution is not because he won a soccer game. Mara 18 has hunted him and his family for the past ten years because Rivera’s refusal to join the gang and his family’s escape from Honduras “hurt…