Pena-Lopez v. Garland

33 F.4th 798
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 12, 2022
Docket20-60911
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 33 F.4th 798 (Pena-Lopez v. Garland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pena-Lopez v. Garland, 33 F.4th 798 (5th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

Case: 20-60911 Document: 00516317518 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/12/2022

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED May 12, 2022 No. 20-60911 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Fredy Leo Pena-Lopez,

Petitioner,

versus

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,

Respondent.

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A098 404 574

Before Richman, Chief Judge, and Costa and Ho, Circuit Judges. Priscilla Richman, Chief Judge: Fredy Leo Pena-Lopez (Pena-Lopez) was ordered removed in absentia in 2004. He remained in the United States, and in 2019, he filed a motion to reopen under a special rule for battered spouses. 1 Because the BIA did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Pena-Lopez had failed to show extreme hardship or extraordinary circumstances, we deny his petition for review.

1 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(iv)(III). Case: 20-60911 Document: 00516317518 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/12/2022

No. 20-60911

I Fredy Leo Pena-Lopez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, was personally served with a notice to appear charging him with removability because he entered the United States in September 2004 without being admitted or paroled. Pena-Lopez failed to appear for his immigration hearing, and he was ordered removed in absentia later that year. In 2012, Pena-Lopez married Ingrid Roxana Rivas, a United States citizen. Rivas then filed an I-130 Alien Relative Petition on Pena-Lopez’s behalf, and Pena-Lopez moved to reopen his immigration proceedings and to have the in-absentia removal order rescinded, alleging that he had never received notice of the removal hearing. The immigration judge (IJ) denied that motion to reopen. The BIA dismissed Pena-Lopez’s appeal. Pena- Lopez later filed a second motion to reopen based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Pereira v. Sessions,2 which was also denied. Pena-Lopez did not petition for review of any of these decisions by the BIA. They are not at issue. In 2019, Pena-Lopez filed the instant motion to reopen—his third— with the BIA pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(iv), which sets forth a special rule for motions to reopen filed by battered spouses, children, and parents. He alleged that Rivas used her ability to file I-130 petitions for him and his two sons as a means to oppress and control him. After Pena-Lopez’s sons arrived in this country, Rivas allegedly mistreated the boys and would insult Pena-Lopez in front of them. “[O]n occasion,” Rivas was also “physically violent” toward Pena-Lopez. Rivas eventually issued an ultimatum, giving Pena-Lopez and his sons six months to move out or begin paying rent; she allowed them to take only their clothing from the home. These facts prompted Pena-Lopez to move to reopen his immigration

2 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018).

2 Case: 20-60911 Document: 00516317518 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/12/2022

proceedings in order to pursue cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2)(A)(i)(I), a form of relief provided by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).3 Generally, an alien is entitled to file one motion to reopen, which must be filed within ninety days of the entry of a final order of removal.4 However, when the motion to reopen is filed for the purpose of pursuing special-rule cancellation of removal under VAWA, the normal time and number limitations do not apply if certain requirements are met.5 The pertinent requirement for purposes of this petition is that the motion to reopen must be filed within one year of the entry of the final removal order.6 If that deadline is not met, the statute dedicates to the Attorney General discretion whether to “waive this [one-year] time limitation in the case of an alien who demonstrates extraordinary circumstances or extreme hardship to the alien’s child.”7 Pena-Lopez conceded that his motion to reopen was untimely because it was filed after the one-year period had already passed. He argued, though, that the psychological abuse inflicted upon him by Rivas was an extraordinary circumstance that warranted a waiver of the one-year filing deadline. Pena- Lopez also argued that his sons would experience hardship if he were removed to El Salvador because they would not be able to support themselves in the United States without his “material and paternal support.”

3 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796, 1902. 4 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C)(i). 5 Id. at § 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C)(iv). 6 Id. at § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(iv)(III). 7 Id.; see also Kucana v. Holder, 558 U.S. 233, 243 (2010).

3 Case: 20-60911 Document: 00516317518 Page: 4 Date Filed: 05/12/2022

Therefore, Pena-Lopez argued, his sons would be forced to return with him to El Salvador, where they were “destined to be subjected to extreme poverty and criminal violence.” The BIA denied the motion to reopen. The BIA determined that Pena-Lopez’s motion was number barred because it was his third and that the motion was untimely because it was filed beyond the one-year filing deadline. The BIA then considered its statutory ability to waive the one-year filing deadline for the motion to reopen. The BIA found that the abuse Pena- Lopez received from Rivas did “not qualify as an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ warranting a waiver” of the filing deadline, explaining that the abuse described by Pena-Lopez was “the type of abuse that would ordinarily be associated with an application for VAWA cancellation of removal.” With respect to extreme hardship, the BIA found that the hardship that Pena- Lopez argued his sons would suffer if he were removed to El Salvador did “not qualify as ‘extreme hardship,’ but rather the type of hardship that would ordinarily be expected when a close family member is removed from the United States to another country.” In a footnote, the BIA observed that the older of Pena-Lopez’s two sons in the United States was twenty years old and could assist Pena-Lopez in providing for their family. The BIA determined that Pena-Lopez did not make the necessary demonstration of extreme hardship or extraordinary circumstances. It did not exercise its discretion to waive the one-year filing deadline for Pena-Lopez’s VAWA- based motion to reopen. The BIA also declined to exercise its discretion to

4 Case: 20-60911 Document: 00516317518 Page: 5 Date Filed: 05/12/2022

sua sponte reopen Pena-Lopez’s immigration proceeding. Pena-Lopez timely petitioned for review of the BIA’s order.8 Pena-Lopez asserts that the BIA committed legal and factual error in concluding that his motion to reopen was time barred and number barred and that no exception to those bars applied here. Despite that assertion, Pena- Lopez does not actually dispute the BIA’s determinations that his instant motion to reopen is his third and that it was filed more than a year after the entry of his final order of removal. Moreover, those determinations are supported by the record. Pena-Lopez’s challenge is to the BIA’s decision not to waive the untimeliness of his motion to reopen. He contends that he affirmatively demonstrated both extraordinary circumstances and extreme hardship to his children, and he maintains that the BIA’s decision to the contrary was “utterly without foundation in the evidence.” The government argues that this court lacks jurisdiction to review the BIA’s decision because it was a discretionary denial of relief.

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Bluebook (online)
33 F.4th 798, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pena-lopez-v-garland-ca5-2022.