Villafana-Benitez

MEMORANDUM **

Nestor Villafana-Benitez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision affirming an immigration judge’s denial of his application for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.

Vallafana-Benitez contends that the Board erred in concluding that he failed to satisfy the continuous physical presence requirement under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(l)(A). Vallafana-Benitez’s application for cancellation of removal stated that his departure from the United States in January 1994 was an “INS return.” He did not testify about the circumstances of this return, and no other evidence was *588 presented as to whether the return was under threat of deportation.

We recently held that the fact that an alien is turned around at the border, even when the alien is fingerprinted and information about his attempted entry is entered into the government’s computer database, does not in and of itself interrupt the continuity of his physical presence in the United States. See Tapia v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 997, 1002-04 (9th Cir.2005). However, we…