Hadera

Daniel Nega Hadera (“Hadera”) petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) summarily affirming an order of removal. Hadera argues that the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) in his case erred in designating Ethiopia as his country of removal and in denying his applications for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) and withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (b)(3)(A).

We grant the petition and remand to the IJ for a redetermination of the country of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (b)(2)(E). We do not reach Hadera’s other claims.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Hadera was born in Bari, Italy in 1978 to Nega Hadera and Ghidei Ghebreghior-gis, members of Ethiopia’s Tigray ethnic group. Both of Hadera’s parents were born in Ethiopia, though they met later in Italy, each having left Ethiopia in the 1970s. Nega Hadera’s father, the petitioner’s grandfather, served as a priest to Emperor Haile Selassie and was prominent throughout the Tigray province. After the Derg, a military junta, wrested command of Ethiopia from Selassie in 1974, Mengistu Haile Mariam took control of the country and targeted former Selassie supporters and members of the Ethiopian…