Usha Bhasin v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

Petitioner Usha Bhasin, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“the Board”) denial of her motion to reopen her proceedings following its decision dismissing her appeal of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of applications for asylum and withholding of removal. Because we conclude that Bhasin established prima facie eligibility for withholding of removal through evidence not available at the time of the original hearing, and because the Board otherwise abused its discretion in denying the motion to reopen, we grant the petition for review and remand to the Board with instructions to either grant relief or to remand to the Immigration Judge for a hearing on the newly presented evidence. We also hold that it was error for the Board to deny the motion as a matter of discretion under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Facts Presented at the Hearing

Petitioner Bhasin appeared before an IJ on May 11, 1999, and provided testimony supplementing her application for asylum, together establishing the facts set forth below. Because neither the IJ nor the Board made any adverse credibility…