Sandoval

MEMORANDUM

Hector Miguel Sandoval (“Sandoval”) is a 25-year-old native and citizen of Mexico who has lived continuously in the United States since February 1990. In removal proceedings initiated in 2001, Sandoval conceded removability but applied for cancellation of removal. In October 2003, fifteen days after the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board” or “BIA”) upheld an order of the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying his application for cancellation of removal, Sandoval married a U.S. citizen, with whom he has a five-year-old U.S. citizen child. Sandoval did not, however, seek judicial review of the October 2003 decision in which the Board — acting pursuant to a policy that predated its decision in In re A-M-, 28 I. & N. Dec. 737 (BIA 2005), and this Court’s decision in Padillas-Padilla v. Gonzales, 463 F.3d 972 (9th Cir.2006) — issued a “streamlined” affir-mance of the IJ’s decision, but reduced the period of voluntary departure ordered by the IJ from sixty to thirty days.

This Court previously upheld an October 2004 decision of the Board denying Sandoval’s first motion to reopen as untimely, and rejecting his plea for equitable tolling based on a claim of ineffective assistance…