Kureghyan

MEMORANDUM ***

Albert Kureghyan overstayed his visa and subsequently sought asylum in the United States. An Immigration Judge (“IJ”) initially denied his application for asylum and, when he failed to appear at his removal hearing, ordered him removed from the United States in absentia. Ku-reghyan filed a motion to reopen, which was denied, and then a motion for reconsideration, which was also denied. Both the motion to reopen and the motion to reconsider argued that Kureghyan had received inadequate notice of his removal hearing: the document giving him notice was illegible, resulting in Kureghyan (or his counsel) having a mistaken understanding of the time that the hearing was to be held. Kureghyan appealed the denial of his motion to reconsider to the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”).

While Kureghyan’s appeal to the BIA was pending, he was caught trying to smuggle his family into the United States and removed to Armenia, where he was captured and beaten by his political adversaries. He again fled to the United States. Unaware of Kureghyan’s removal, the BIA found that he had not received adequate notice of the removal hearing and reversed and remanded with instructions…