Kiet Hung Nguyen v. Holder

MEMORANDUM *

Kiet Hung Nguyen (“Nguyen”), a native of Vietnam, petitions for review of an order of removal. Nguyen is a permanent resident who fled Vietnam in 1983 and was admitted as a refugee to the United States. In 1993, he was convicted of a battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, in violation of Nevada law. After Nguyen was charged with removability, Nguyen requested asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The immigration judge (“IJ”) initially granted Nguyen’s request for asylum, but the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) reversed, finding that Nguyen had not established past persecution when he was in Vietnam and that Nguyen had not shown it was more likely than not that he would be persecuted upon return. Nguyen challenges this ruling, and additionally raises two ineffec *774 tive assistance of counsel claims arising from mistakes made by earlier counsel in Nguyen’s repeated hearings in front of the IJ and the BIA.

The government conceded at oral argument that, under our case law, we have jurisdiction to review the BIA’s denial of Nguyen’s withholding of removal claim. Morales v. Gonzales, 478 F.3d 972, 980 (9th…