Arrozal

Remedios Arrozal Yehdego, a native of the Philippines, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order denying her motion to reopen her deportation hearing. She seeks a reopening so that she can request suspension of deportation under § 244 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (“INA”). Yehdego’s request for relief from deportation is based in part on the hardship that her deportation would cause her American citizen husband and American-born children. Yehdego presented evidence that her husband, Emanuel Yehdego, who is originally from Eritrea, would have to stay in the United States because language and cultural barriers would prevent him from supporting their family in the Philippines. Yeh-dego’s three U.S. citizen children, Kudus (eleven years old), Gabriel (seven years old), and Angelica (two years old), would suffer because they would be separated from one parent whether they stayed in this country or moved to the Philippines. Additionally, Kudus and Gabriel attend school in this country and are imbued with our American culture. Kudus and Gabriel are also asthmatic. According to their doctor, they would suffer from more frequent asthma attacks and…

dissenting.

Because the majority’s opinion is neither consistent with the sound policies of this country’s immigration laws nor in accord with recent acts of Congress, I respectfully dissent.

The BIA denied Yehdego’s motion to reopen “as a matter of discretion without further addressing her statutory eligibility for suspension of deportation.” The BIA stated that “under the circumstances of this case ..., we do not find [Yehdego] has met her burden of demonstrating that she warrants a favorable exercise of discretion under our decision in Matter ofBarocio. ...”

The “circumstances of this case” are as follows: Yehdego married Emanuel Tesfai Yehdego (“Mr.Yehdego”) in Saudi Arabia in 1983. She then entered the United States on January 22, 1985, with permission to stay until July 21, 1985. Yehdego, however, did not leave the United States when her visa expired in July of 1985. Her marriage to Mr. Yehdego ended on July 11, 1985. Less than seven months later, on January 27, 1986, Yehdego married Anthony Burtis (“Burtis”), a United States citizen. Because Yehdego had remained illegally in the United States beyond July 21, 1985, the INS issued Yehdego an Order to Show Cause on April…