Balmore Hernandez v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Balmore Aleides Hernandez 'challenges the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) dismissal of his request for administrative closure of his removal proceedings pursuant to paragraph 19 of the settlement agreement entered in American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh, 760 F.Supp. 796, 805-06 (N.D.Cal.1991) (the ABC agreement). Because the plain language of the ABC agreement entitles an ABC class member to “ask ... the BIA to administratively close his or her case,” id. at 805 , we grant the petition for review and remand for the BIA to adjudicate Hernandez’s request for administrative closure on its merits.

1. The ABC litigation involved a class-action lawsuit filed by “churches, organizations, and individuals on behalf of more than 300,000 asylum applicants from El Salvador and Guatemala.” Chaly-Garcia v. United States, 508 F.3d 1201, 1202-03 (9th Cir.2007) (describing the ABC agreement and its background); In re Morales, 21 I. & N. Dec. 130, 132 (BIA 1995) (same). The complaint alleged that the government had systematically violated the Refugee Act of 1980, Pub.L. No. 96-212, 94 Stat. 102, in the processing of Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum applications. See…