Cruz Lopez-Vasquez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Cruz Lopez-Vasquez and her son David Perez-Lopez, both natives and citizens of Guatemala, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision denying their motion to reopen removal proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and review the BIA’s denial of petitioners’ motion for abuse of discretion. Tadevosyan v. Holder, 743 F.3d 1250, 1252 (9th Cir.2014).

We grant the petition for review for the reasons set forth below. Because the parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, we need not recount it here.

I

“ ‘A motion to reopen is a traditional procedural mechanism in immigration law with a basic purpose that has remained constant — to give aliens a means to provide new information relevant to their cases to the immigration authorities.’ ” Meza-Vallejos v. Holder, 669 F.3d 920, 924 (9th Cir.2012) (quoting Azarte v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 1278, 1283 (9th Cir.2005)). Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (“IIRIRA”), every alien subject to removal has the statutory right to file one motion to reopen with the BIA. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A). Although that motion ordinarily must…