Martinez-Perez

MEMORANDUM **

Miguel Martinez-Perez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from an immigration judge’s denial of his motion to reopen for the purpose of rescinding an in absentia removal order. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , grant the petition for review, and remand for further proceedings.

The BIA’s decision stated “that an alien who establishes that he or she began traveling to the Immigration Court with sufficient time, given weather and traffic conditions, to arrive on time for his or her scheduled hearing but who misses the hearing due to a car break down may be able, depending upon the totality of the circumstances[,] to demonstrate ‘exceptional circumstances’ ” pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(e)(l). Accepting this holding, we conclude that the Board’s application of its general principle to Martinez-Perez’s case is based in large part on a misapprehension of the record.

Martinez-Perez submitted a declaration by his ex-wife stating that her car was towed by an individual known to her personally. In addition, her declaration recounts, “I did not take my car in to get fixed…