Jimenez-Barrera

*138 MEMORANDUM **

Osmar Jimenez-Barrera petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissal of an appeal of a denial of a motion to reopen by an immigration judge (“IJ”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we grant the petition for review.

Jimenez-Barrera was ordered removed in absentia by an IJ. His new counsel filed a motion to reopen and a motion to stay proceedings, which were denied by the IJ, and a motion for reconsideration. While the reconsideration motion was pending, the government removed Jimenez-Barrera to El Salvador. The IJ subsequently denied the motion to reconsider. Jimenez-Barrera appealed the IJ’s decision. The government notified the BIA that it had removed Jimenez-Barrera from the country and requested dismissal of the appeal. The BIA dismissed the appeal, citing 8 C.F.R. § 1003.4 and the doctrine of mootness.

The BIA erred in relying on 8 C.F.R. § 1003.4 . That regulation states in relevant part that:

By its terms, the regulation applies only to departures occurring “subsequent to the taking of an appeal.” Here, Jimenez-Barrera was forcibly removed before filing an appeal, so the regulation by its plain terms does…