Chae Kim Ro and Chin Deung Ro v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

Petitioners are husband and wife, natives of Korea. They entered this country with a non-immigrant visa. They did not leave within the time prescribed by their visa. On June 19, 1974 they applied for adjustment of status from visitor to permanent resident. On May 7, 1975 the District Director denied their applications. On April 1, 1976 an Immigration Judge (“LJ”) also denied their applications. On April 7, 1976 petitioners filed a notice of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). On April 9, 1976 a United States citizen child was born to petitioners. On January 25,1977 the BIA affirmed the IJ’s denial of petitioners’ applications. On December 30, 1977 this court affirmed.

On August 18, 1978 petitioners moved to reopen the deportation proceedings. They raised for the first time the birth of their United States citizen child and submitted supporting documentation. They did not specifically state the grounds on which they sought reopening. The BIA denied the motion. It held that, even assuming statutory eligibility for reopening, petitioners failed to come forward with new evidence bearing upon the BIA’s exercise of discretion in determining whether to reopen. The BIA…