Case: 19-60131 Document: 00515636193 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/12/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED November 12, 2020 No. 19-60131 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Jose Faudoa-Gonzalez, Petitioner, versus William P. Barr, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A097 683 522 Before Stewart, Duncan, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* An immigration judge (IJ) ordered Jose Faudoa-Gonzalez, a native and citizen of Mexico, removed after denying his requests for continuance, administrative closure, and termination. Faudoa appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), asserting the IJ erred by denying him a continuance, or alternatively, administrative closure. The BIA dismissed * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 19-60131 Document: 00515636193 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/12/2020 No. 19-60131 Faudoa’s appeal, concluding that Matter of Castro-Tum, 27 I&N Dec. 271 (Att’y Gen. 2018), foreclosed his request for administrative closure and Matter of L-A-B-R-, 27 I&N Dec. 405 (Att’y Gen. 2018), precluded him from establishing good cause for continuance. Faudoa now petitions this court for review of the BIA’s dismissal. Because the BIA abused its discretion in retroactively applying Castro-Tum, but not in applying L-A-B-R-, we grant in part and deny in part Faudoa’s petition for review. I. Faudoa arrived in the United States in December 2010 without inspection. In April 2016, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged Faudoa with being removable under § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). At his first hearing, Faudoa admitted the allegations set forth by DHS and conceded his removability. Although Faudoa did not apply for relief, Laura Robles, Faudoa’s wife and a United States citizen, filed an I-130 “Petition for Alien Relative” on Faudoa’s behalf.1 Over the next 18 months, the immigration court continued Faudoa’s removal proceedings six times. Of the six continuances, the court granted three at Faudoa’s request, pending the adjudication of Robles’s I-130 application. Robles’s I-130 petition was approved on July 21, 2017. Nonetheless, on November 2, 2017, Faudoa moved for a fourth continuance. In his fourth motion, Faudoa requested a continuance until August 2018. According to Faudoa, this continuance would allow the National Visa Center (NVC) time to process the approved I-130 petition and would give United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) time to 1 According to Laura Robles’s petition, Robles and Faudoa married on September 25, 2012. 2 Case: 19-60131 Document: 00515636193 Page: 3 Date Filed: 11/12/2020 No. 19-60131 adjudicate his subsequent I-601A provisional unlawful presence waiver. In the alternative, Faudoa requested that the court administratively close or terminate his case.2 While DHS did not oppose the continuance of Faudoa’s removal proceedings, the agency opposed administrative closure or termination of Faudoa’s removal action. On November 7, 2017, the IJ denied Faudoa’s fourth continuance ...
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