Andreasian

MEMORANDUM **

Rafael Andreasian, along with his wife and adult daughter, appeal the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying their motion to reopen their asylum and withholding of deportation proceedings. The BIA denied the motion because it was untimely and did not fall within the “changed circumstances” exception to the time and numerical limitations set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 3.2 (c)(2) (renumbered 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (c)(2) in 2003). The petitioners do not contest the tardiness of their motion. They do assert, however, that they fall within the regulatory exception of 8 C.F.R. § 3.2 (c)(3)(ii), which permits “reappl[ication] for asylum or withholding of deportation based on changed circumstances arising in the country of nationality or in the country to which deportation has been ordered, if such evidence is material and was not available and could not have been discovered or presented at the previous hearing.”

Rafael offered essentially three pieces of evidence that he claimed were not available and could not have been obtained at the time of the prior hearing: two newspaper articles, and the apparently recent discovery that his daughter Ellen was a lesbian.…