Izquierdo

MEMORANDUM

Julio Antonio Izquierdo, a native and citizen of Peru, petitions for review from the Immigration Judge’s (“U”) issuance of a final order of removal, following the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) reversal of the IJ’s original grant of asy lum and adjustment of status relief. Although the government challenges the petition as untimely because Petitioner did not seek review of the BIA’s remand order, Petitioner was not required to do so under the then existing law of this circuit. See Molinar-Camacho v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 937, 942 (9th Cir.2004).

The matter is before us after a panel of this court originally granted Petitioner’s petition for rehearing. In that petition and the supplemental briefing this court requested, Petitioner contends that the BIA engaged in inappropriate fact-finding when it overturned the IJ’s grant of relief. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1 (d)(3)(i). The record does not bear this out.

Petitioner was a member of Peru’s National Guard at the time of a prison riot by prisoners who were members of the “Shining Path.” Many of the rioters were led out and executed by prison officials. He sought asylum, claiming fear of Shining Path persecution. Before…