Tarlock Singh v. Eric Holder, Jr.

For the second time in six years, we hold that the Board of Immigration Appeals has authority to reopen proceedings of an alien who is under a final order of removal in order to afford the alien an opportunity to pursue an adjustment of status application before United States Citizenship and . Immigration Services. See Kalilu v. Mukasey, 548 F.3d 1215, 1217-18 (9th Cir.2008). This authority is granted, at minimum, by the unambiguous language of 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (a), which states that “[t]he Board may at any time reopen or reconsider on its own motion any case in which it has rendered a decision.” Because the Board’s contrary holding in Matter of Yauri, 25 I. & N. Dec. 103 (BIA 2009), contravenes this regulation’s plain language, we accord it no deference and decline to follow it.

BACKGROUND

In 2008, an immigration judge (IJ) found the petitioner, Tarlochan Singh, excludable from the United States, denied Singh’s requests for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture and ordered that he be excluded and deported from the country. Singh appealed the IJ’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA or Board), and the Board…