Munoz

MEMORANDUM **

Diego Sebastian Munoz, a native and citizen of Argentina, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) summary affirmance of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his motion to reopen his removal proceedings and rescind his in absentia removal order. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . Reviewing for abuse of discretion, Singh v. INS, 213 F.3d 1050, 1052 (9th Cir.2000), we grant the petition for review, and remand for further proceedings.

Munoz has exhausted his contention that the IJ erroneously entered an in absentia removal order, because he argued before the BIA that the relevant notice of hearing was not sent to his then-counsel of record. See Zara v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 927, 931 (9th Cir.2004).

The IJ’s conditional acceptance of Munoz’s former counsel’s withdrawal was predicated on counsel being “responsible for acceptance of service documents,” a requirement intended to “increase the likelihood that a respondent receives notice and appears for a scheduled hearing.” In re Rosales, 19 I. & N. Dec. 655, 657 (BIA 1988). Thus, Munoz was “entitled to assume that the attorney who previously appeared for him [would]…