Santos Arnulfo Turcios-Berrios, a native and citizen of El Salvador, sought to challenge the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) decision denying his motion to reopen filed in August 2021. He also appealed the immigration judge's denial of a motion to reconsider and a motion to reopen filed in September 2019. The core dispute centered on whether the BIA and the immigration judge properly determined that these motions were filed after the statutory deadlines and whether the petitioner was entitled to an extension of those deadlines due to changed country conditions or equitable tolling.
The Fifth Circuit reviewed the denial of both the motion to reopen and the motion to reconsider under a highly deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Under this standard, a ruling stands unless it is capricious, racially invidious, utterly without foundation in the evidence, or so irrational that it is arbitrary. The court found that Turcios-Berrios had abandoned any challenge to the BIA's affirmance of the immigration judge's denial of his motion to reconsider. Regarding the September 2019 motion to reopen, the court held that the petitioner failed to show the BIA abused its discretion in determining the motion was untimely. He did not demonstrate changed country conditions warranting reopening or that he was entitled to equitable tolling of the filing deadline. Similarly, regarding the August 2021 motion to reopen, the petitioner abandoned his challenge to the BIA's determination that he was not entitled to equitable tolling. The court declined to consider new arguments presented for the first time in his reply brief, noting that the untimeliness of the motion was dispositive. Additionally, the court rejected the petitioner's due process claims, stating he had no liberty interests in connection with reopening proceedings. Finally, the court noted it lacked jurisdiction to consider the petitioner's challenge to the BIA's decision not to exercise its discretion to sua sponte reopen the proceedings.
The BIA's prior decisions denying the motions to reopen and reconsider remain in effect. The petitioner's immigration case is effectively closed regarding these procedural motions, as the court found no basis to overturn the timeliness determinations or the lack of due process rights in reopening proceedings. The decision reinforces the strict application of filing deadlines in immigration reopening motions within the Fifth Circuit.
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