USCA11 Case: 21-11272 Date Filed: 03/15/2022 Page: 1 of 15 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-11272 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ AREFIN SAMSUL, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A213-165-530 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-11272 Date Filed: 03/15/2022 Page: 2 of 15 2 Opinion of the Court 21-11272 Before WILSON, ROSENBAUM, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Arefin Samsul1 seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) denial of his motion to reopen his removal pro- ceedings under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c) based on ineffective assistance of counsel. He contends that the BIA failed to give reasoned con- sideration to his arguments and abused its discretion by denying the motion to reopen. After review, we grant Samsul’s petition in part and deny it in part. I. Samsul is a native and citizen of Bangladesh who entered the United States on June 27, 2019. He was apprehended near the bor- der in Texas and, the next day, sat for a credible-fear interview with an asylum officer. In the credible-fear interview, Samsul claimed that he feared persecution by the ruling Awami League due to his active mem- bership in the rival Bangladeshi National Party (“BNP”), and that he had been physically harmed on five prior occasions. The worst incident, he stated, occurred in June 2018 when Bangladeshi police kidnapped him for several days, beat him repeatedly, made him 1 The petitioner is referred to as both Samsul Arefin and Arefin Samsul throughout the record. We refer to him as Arefin Samsul for consistency with the agency decisions below. USCA11 Case: 21-11272 Date Filed: 03/15/2022 Page: 3 of 15 21-11272 Opinion of the Court 3 drink his own urine, and threatened to kill him for belonging to the BNP. The asylum officer determined that Samsul demonstrated a credible fear of persecution or torture. A. Initiation of Removal and Preliminary Matters In August 2019, the Department of Homeland Security is- sued Samsul a notice to appear, charging him as removable for en- tering the country without authorization. Samsul retained coun- sel, Zubaida Iqbal, who appeared with Samsul at a joint bond and initial removal hearing in October 2019, conceded the grounds for removal, and indicated that Samsul intended to apply for asylum. The IJ reset the bond hearing for October 29, 2019, to permit the government “to investigate a certain matter for purposes of bond.” Samsul personally appeared for the October 29 hearing, stat- ing that his counsel could not make it and had instead asked him to request a new hearing date and “to submit the asylum papers.” The IJ was displeased with counsel but reset the hearing so that Samsul’s rights would “not be prejudiced in any way.” When the hearing resumed in November 2019, counsel presented Samsul’s form I-589 application for asylum, withholding of removal, and re- lief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”), and …
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