Taufiq Moh Abassi v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Taufiq Moh Abassi petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision, which denied both his motion to reopen to seek relief under the Convention Against Torture and his separate motion to reopen to adjust status. We grant the petition with respect to the BIA’s denial of the first motion, and hold that when a pro se litigant refers in his motion to “recent Country Reports (from the U.S. Department of State),” the BIA is obligated, in evaluating the motion, to consider the most recent relevant country condition profile published by the United States State Department. We hold that we are without jurisdiction to review the BIA’s failure to reopen sua sponte after the BIA deemed the second motion untimely.

I. Facts and Prior Proceedings

Abassi is a native and citizen of Afghanistan who entered the United States in 1990 as a nonimmigrant visitor on a temporary visa. On February 7, 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) charged Abassi with violating Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 241(a)(1)(B) by overstaying his visa. Abassi appeared before an Immigration Judge (“IJ”), conceded deportability, and applied for asylum and…