Ramirez-Arias

MEMORANDUM

Alfonso Ramirez-Arias (“Ramirez-Arias”), a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order finding Ramirez-Arias excludable and deportable pursuant to INA § 212(a)(6)(E)® following exclusion proceedings held in absentia. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), 3 and we grant Ramirez-Arias’s petition for review. Because the parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, we do not recount it here except as necessary to explain our decision.

Ramirez-Arias argues that the IJ abused his discretion when he denied Ramirez-Arias’s motion to continue and held the exclusion hearing in absentia. Immigration Regulations provide that an IJ “may grant a motion for continuance for good cause shown.” 8 C.F.R. § 3.29 . The applicable regulations do not define good cause. “Decisions to grant or deny motions to defer or continue deportation or exclusion proceedings are vested in the sound discretion of the trial judge and reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard.” Barapind v. Reno, 225 F.3d 1100, 1113 (9th Cir.2000).

In this case, the…