Jie Lin v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Jie Lin (“Lin”) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denial of his motion to reopen his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. He asserts that his claims were prejudiced due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Lin’s mother bore a second child in violation of China’s mandatory limits on procreation, which Lin alleges led to persecution of her and her family, including him. Lin argues that his prior counsel presented no legal argument in Lin’s hearing that he warranted refugee status— either on a basis derivative of the persecution of his parents or based on his own previous persecution, which he claims will recur if he is returned to China — and that Lin’s counsel failed to discover critical facts, in part because she expected to be able to substitute other counsel to represent Lin. We grant the petition and remand for further proceedings before the BIA.

I. JURISDICTION

We have jurisdiction to review the BIA’s Order dismissing Lin’s Motion to Reopen under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (b)(2). The BIA acknowledged in its Order of Dismissal that Lin has met the three procedural requirements for…