Valencia-Blandon

ORDER ****

Petitioner, Columbian national Juan Esteban Valencia-Blandón, who was removed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) following an immigration judge’s denial of his application for asylum in 2003, brings two separate petitions for relief. He challenges (1) an order by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accepting his withdrawal of appeal (petition No. 03-72298) and (2) the BIA’s denial of his subsequent Motion to Reconsider and/or Reopen (petition No. 03-74504).

Taking petitioner’s second claim first (petition No. 03-74504), the government concedes that, since the compound Motion to Reconsider and/or Reopen presented new factual information bearing on Valencia-Blandon’s asylum application, the Motion should have been construed as a Motion to Reopen and thus should not have been dismissed as time-barred under the 30-day limitations period applicable to Motions to Reconsider. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(e); Iturribarria v. I.N.S., 321 F.3d 889, 895-97 (9th Cir.2003). The BIA’s mischaracterization and denial of the Motion was thus an abuse of discretion. Iturribarria 321 F.3d at 897 . We therefore vacate the BIA’s ruling that the Motion was time-barred and remand the…