Sergey Yeghiazaryan v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

Sergey Yeghiazaryan (“Yeghiazaryan”) challenges the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denying his motion for reconsideration of the BIA’s earlier denial of his motion to reopen. Ye-ghiazaryan had sought reopening of the BIA’s decision dismissing his appeal from the denial by an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) of his asylum application and of the withholding of removal. Because the BIA’s denial of Yeghiazaryan’s motion to reconsider was an abuse of discretion and a violation of due process, we grant Yeghia-zaryan’s petition for review and remand for the substantive consideration of his motion to reopen.

Background

Yeghiazaryan, a citizen of Armenia, was born in Siberia to parents exiled by the government of the former Soviet Union. On November 11, 1995 Yeghiazaryan entered the United States with a Soviet passport and a B-2 visa. One and one-half months later, on December 29, 1995, Ye-ghiazaryan filed an application for asylum (1-589) with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”). Yeghiazaryan could not speak or understand English, so he enlisted the help of a lay person to complete his 1-589 application. Because that nonlawyer never translated the 1-589…