Yero v. Gonzales

236 F. App'x 451
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided June 8, 2007·No. No. 06-9554·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

MARY BECK BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Ismaila Yero challenges the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA’s) order denying his motion to reopen the proceedings. Specifically, he contests the [452] BIA’s findings that he was not diligent in moving to reopen and that he failed to meet the requirements for asserting an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. We deny the petition.

Background

Mr. Yero is a native and citizen of Mauritania. He entered this country in April 2001, but was not admitted or paroled after inspection. In August 2001, he applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, claiming persecution due to his Fulani ethnicity. The former Immigration and Naturalization Service ordered that he appear for a hearing, where his application was ultimately denied.

Mr. Yero then appealed to the BIA, which affirmed without opinion on October 5, 2004. Thirty-five days later, on November 9, 2004, he filed in this court a petition for review. After several weeks, Mr. Yero moved this court to accept the late filing of his petition, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1) (requiring that the petition “be filed not later than 30 days after the date of the final order of removal”), citing “errors made by the courier company” hired to file the petition, Yero v. Ashcroft, No. 04-9606, Mot. to Accept Late Filing at 1 (10th Cir. Nov. 29, 2004). On April 29, 2005, this court dismissed the petition as untimely.

On August 15, 2005, Mr. Yero’s attorney, Sharon Healey, who had been representing him since the removal hearing, filed with the BIA a motion “to reopen [Mr. Yero’s] case and re-enter [the] order denying his appeal in order to restart the 30 day period for filing the petition for review in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.” Supp. Admin. R. at 14. Ms. Healey argued that she was ineffective in filing the petition late. The BIA denied the motion, ruling that Ms. Healey (1) had not acted diligently in seeking to reopen the case; and (2) had not complied with two' of the three requirements for asserting an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim under Matter of Lozada, 19 I. & N. Dec. 637 (BIA 1988).

Mr. Yero, through attorney Healey, now petitions this court for review, arguing that the period in which to seek reopening was equitably tolled and that Lozada’s requirements are not “sacrosanct.” Pet’r Br. at 4 (quotation omitted).

Discussion

‘We review the BIA’s denial of a motion to reopen for abuse of discretion.” Huerta v. Gonzales, 443 F.3d 753, 757 (10th Cir. 2006). “The BIA abuses its discretion when its decision provides no rational explanation, inexplicably departs from established policies, is devoid of any reasoning, or contains only summary or conclusory statements.” Galvez Pineda v. Gonzales, 427 F.3d 833, 838 (10th Cir.2005) (quotation omitted).

I. Equitable Tolling

A motion to reopen “must be filed no later than 90 days after the date on which the final administrative decision was rendered.” 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2). Here, Mr. Yero’s motion was filed 314 days after the BIA’s affirmance of his removal. Nevertheless, Ms. Healey asserts that the 90-day period was equitably tolled until Mr. Yero learned that she was ineffective, which purportedly occurred when this court dismissed the petition for review.

Equitable tolling is available only if the alien has exercised due diligence in pursuing the case during the requested tolling period. See Mahamat v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 1281, 1283 (10th Cir.2005). The BIA found that Ms. Healey did not diligently seek reopening, as she knew the courier company had filed the petition late, [453] but instead of moving to reopen at that point, she elected to pursue the untimely petition. We agree that Ms. Healey did not exercise due diligence.

This court’s jurisdiction is dependent upon the timely filing of a petition for review. See Infanzon v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1359, 1361 (10th Cir.2004). The jurisdictional bar against untimely petitions is mandatory, “not subject to equitable tolling,” and avoidable only in “unique circumstances” not present here, such as when a judicial officer specifically assures the party that he or she has properly acted to postpone the filing deadline. Nahatchevska v. Ashcroft, 317 F.3d 1226, 1227 (10th Cir.2003) (quotations omitted). Given the obvious jurisdictional defect in Mr. Yero’s petition and the availability of a motion to reopen with the BIA, it was not diligent for Ms. Healey to wait for this court to act on the jurisdictional defect before moving to reopen. See Galvez Pineda, 427 F.3d at 839 (holding that aliens’ reliance on a flawed petition in this court “that led them to forgo a motion to reopen at the outset” did not establish the requisite diligence for equitable tolling, as “[rjemovable aliens are not permitted to delay matters by pursuing multiple avenues of relief seriatim when no reason suggests why they could not be pursued simultaneously”). The BIA did not abuse its discretion in refusing to equitably toll the 90-day limitations period.1

II. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

The BIA also determined that Ms. Healey failed to comply with two of the three requirements for asserting an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on behalf of Mr. Yero.

Under Matter of Lozada, a motion based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel must be supported by (1) the aggrieved party’s affidavit setting forth the agreement that was entered into with ... counsel and what counsel did or did not represent to the respondent in this regard; (2) evidence that ... counsel was informed of the allegations and allowed the opportunity to respond; and (3) evidence the aggrieved party filed a complaint with appropriate disciplinary authorities, and if not, why not.

Mickeviciute v. INS, 327 F.3d 1159, 1161 n. 2 (10th Cir.2003). Here, there is no affidavit from Mr. Yero, and Ms. Healey indicated that she did not report the late filing to disciplinary authorities.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Yero v. Gonzales, 236 F. App'x 451 (10th Cir. 2007).

236 F. App'x 451 (Yero v. Gonzales) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Hernandez Lopez v. Sessions
Tenth Circuit, 2019