Eunice Oritsegbeyiwa Azanor v. John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General

Eunice Oritsegbeyiwa Azanor, a native and citizen of Nigeria, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) order denying her motion to reopen deportation proceedings. Azanor contends the Board abused its discretion by declining to reopen notwithstanding evidence that she suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria and that her eight-year-old United States citizen daughter would likely suffer a similar fate. She seeks asylum pursuant to section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1158 , withholding of deportation pursuant to INA § 243(h), 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h) (1994), and withholding of removal pursuant to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention), opened for signature Feb. 4, 1985, S. TREATY DOC. NO. 100-20 (1988), 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 (1988), and 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.16 (c), 208.18.

We have jurisdiction over Azanor’s petition for review pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 § 309(c). We grant the petition with respect to Azanor’s request for protection under the Torture Convention, and…