Rigoberto Avila-Santoyo v. U.S. Attorney General

579 F. App'x 860
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 10, 2014
Docket14-10151
StatusUnpublished

This text of 579 F. App'x 860 (Rigoberto Avila-Santoyo v. U.S. Attorney General) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rigoberto Avila-Santoyo v. U.S. Attorney General, 579 F. App'x 860 (11th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Rigoberto Avila-Santoyo, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his motion to reopen removal proceedings, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7) and 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2. It is undisputed that Avila-Santoyo’s motion to reopen was not filed within the 90-day limit prescribed in 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i). This matter is again before us after we first vacated and remanded en banc the BIA’s order denying reopening, and held that “the 90-day deadline to file a motion to reopen immigration removal proceedings [was] not jurisdictional, but rather [was] a claim-processing rule subject to equitable tolling.” Avilar-Santoyo v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 713 F.3d 1357, 1359 (11th Cir.2013) (en banc) (per cu-riam). We then remanded to the BIA “to consider whether to grant Avila-Santoyo’s request for equitable tolling” of the deadline. Id. at 1365.

In addition to his equitable tolling argument, Avila-Santoyo’s argues that (1) his waiver was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary; (2) his removal proceedings can be reopened because he was improperly removed in absentia; and (3) the BIA erred in refusing to sua sponte reopen Avila-Santoyo’s removal proceedings under 8 C.F.R. §§ 1003.2(a), (c). These issues were properly decided by this court in Avila-Santoyo v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 487 Fed.Appx. 478 (11th Cir.2012) (per curiam), vacated and superseded on reh’g, 713 F.3d at 1365, and we will not readdress them here. We incorporate by reference the analysis and reasoning of our prior opinion disposing of Avila-Santoyo’s claims that do not relate to his equitable tolling argument. Avi la-Santoyo, 487 Fed.Appx. at 480-81. Accordingly, we will now address whether the BIA abused its discretion when it denied Avila-Santoyo’s motion to reopen finding that his motion was not subjected to equitable tolling.

We review the denial of a motion to reopen removal proceedings for an abuse of discretion. Zhang v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 572 F.3d 1316, 1319 (11th Cir.2009) (per curiam). Judicial review “is limited to determining whether the BIA exercised its discretion in an arbitrary or capricious manner. The moving party bears a heavy burden, as motions to reopen are disfavored, especially in removal proceedings.” Id. (citation omitted). The BIA’s factual determinations are reviewed under the deferential substantial evidence test. Lin v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 555 F.3d 1310, 1314 (11th Cir.2009). Under that test, we will affirm the BIA’s decision if it is supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole. Id. We review de novo the BIA’s and IJ’s legal conclusions. Id. And we review only the BIA’s decision, except to the extent it expressly adopts the IJ’s decision. Id.

An alien may file one motion to reopen, and that motion must be filed no later than 90 days after the date on which a final administrative decision was rendered. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A),(C); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2). The time bar for motions to reopen is not jurisdictional, and thus *862 equitable tolling may be available. Avilar-Santoyo, 713 F.3d at 1362-65. To establish eligibility for equitable tolling, a litigant must show that (1) he has been pursuing his rights diligently, and (2) some extraordinary circumstance stood in his way. Id. at 1363 n. 5. Tolling is an “extraordinary remedy” that should be used sparingly, but courts may toll time limitations when an inequitable event prevents a party’s timely action. Booth v. Carnival Corp., 522 F.3d 1148, 1150 (11th Cir.2008). Here, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying Avila-Santoyo’s motion to reopen. It is undisputed that Avila-Santoyo did not file his motion to reopen within the 90-day limit contained in the statute, and the BIA did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Avila-Santoyo failed to establish eligibility for equitable tolling because he did not demonstrate due diligence.

Avila-Santoyo raises several arguments as to how he did establish eligibility for equitable tolling. First, he argues that the BIA should have measured his due diligence from the time he discovered the error because of the immigration officials’ “misconduct” and alleged misrepresentations to him. This argument is unavailing. The Supreme Court has recognized that equitable tolling may be appropriate where a claimant is induced to forego his rights due to the other party’s fraud or misconduct. See Irwin v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 96, 111 S.Ct. 453, 457-58, 112 L.Ed.2d 435 (1990); Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U.S. 392, 397, 66 S.Ct. 582, 585, 90 L.Ed. 743 (1946). This court, too, has held that where one party acts with “affirmative misconduct, such as deliberate concealment,” such that it was “nearly impossible” for the other party to discover certain pertinent facts, equitable tolling can be appropriate. Cabello v. Fernandez-Larios, 402 F.3d 1148, 1155 (11th Cir.2005) (per curiam) (equitable tolling appropriate where Chilean government purposefully concealed the manner of man’s death and place of burial because his family could not possibly have pursued their claims until they received this information); see also IBT Int’l, Inc. v. Northern (In re Int’l Admin. Servs., Inc.), 408 F.3d 689, 700-02 (11th Cir.2005).

Here, Avila-Santoyo has failed to show any affirmative misconduct, such as deliberate concealment or fraud, on the part of the immigration officials. In the affidavit attached to the motion to reopen, Avila-Santoyo stated that “[t]he immigration officer at Krome told me that if I signed the paperwork he gave me, I could be out of detention quickly. I figured because the officer worked for immigration, he knew the law and I must not have any rights or way to stay in the United States....

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579 F. App'x 860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rigoberto-avila-santoyo-v-us-attorney-general-ca11-2014.