Background
Petitioners Victoriano Velasquez-Lopez and Nelson Raul Velasquez-Ramos, both natives and citizens of Guatemala, petitioned for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order. The Board had dismissed their appeal of an Immigration Judge’s oral decision denying a continuance, deeming their asylum applications abandoned, and ordering their removal.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed due process claims de novo and challenges to the denial of a continuance for clear abuse of discretion. Regarding the denial of a continuance to respond to Forms I-213, the court found the agency did not abuse its discretion because the petitioners did not show prejudice. The government presented the forms solely as evidence of alienage, which the petitioners did not contest. However, the court remanded the issue of abandoned asylum applications. The record did not clearly show whether the petitioners requested a continuance to submit the applications before the judge deemed them abandoned. The Immigration Judge did not trail the case to allow the petitioners to file the applications, contrary to the Board’s statement.
What it means going forward
The decision affirms the denial of a continuance for responding to evidence of alienage but requires the agency to reevaluate the abandonment of asylum applications under the standard set in Arizmendi-Medina.