Paniagua-Jimenez

MEMORANDUM **

Maria Hirma Paniagua-Jimenez and her daughter, Elena Yaneth Arevalo-Paniagua, natives and citizens of Mexico, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying their motion to reconsider its earlier decision dismissing as untimely their appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying their applications for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to reopen or reconsider. Lara-Torres v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 968 , 972 (9th Cir.2004), amended by 404 F.3d 1105 (2005). We review de novo questions of law and claims of due process violations. Id. We grant the petition for review.

In their motion to reopen, petitioners submitted a detailed declaration which they supported with receipts showing the money they paid a non-attorney representative who misled them into believing that the “waiver” she promised to get them would preserve their right to appeal their case to the BIA. The BIA abused its discretion when it determined that the declaration was “vague” and faded to prove that petitioners had an agreement with the non-attorney representative…