United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 20-1541 CARLOS ANTONIO GRANADOS BENITEZ, Petitioner, v. ROBERT M. WILKINSON, Acting United States Attorney General,* Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Lynch and Selya, Circuit Judges, and Laplante,** District Judge. Paige Austin, with whom Philip L. Torrey, Make the Road New York, and the Harvard Law School Crimmigration Clinic were on brief, for petitioner. Brian D. Straw, Gregory E. Ostfeld, and Greenberg Traurig, LLP on brief for ASISTA Immigration Assistance, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Network to End Domestic Violence, Safe Horizon, and Tahirih Justice Center, amici curiae. Christopher Bates, with whom Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Linda S. Wernery, Assistant Director, and William C. Minick, Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, * Pursuant to Fed. R. of App. P. 43(c)(2), Acting Attorney General Robert M. Wilkinson has been substituted for former Attorney General William P. Barr. ** Of the District of New Hampshire, sitting by designation. - 1 - U.S. Department of Justice, were on brief, for respondent. January 28, 2021 - 2 - LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Carlos Antonio Granados Benitez seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA" or "Board") denial of his motion to reopen his removal proceedings and to remand to the immigration judge ("IJ") for further consideration in light of the fact that he had been placed on a waiting list by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") for a U-1 nonimmigrant visa ("U visa") pursuant to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act ("VTVPA"), Pub. L. No. 106-386, § 1513(a)(2)(A), (b), 114 Stat. 1464 (2000) (codified as amended at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(U)). Because we find that the BIA abused its discretion, in that it failed to render a reasoned decision that accords with its own precedent and policies, and it further failed to consider the position of its sister agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), we grant the petition. In so holding we join the views of the Seventh Circuit in Guerra Rocha v. Barr, 951 F.3d 848, 852- 54 (7th Cir. 2020). I. Granados Benitez is a citizen of Honduras who entered the United States in 2010 without being lawfully admitted or paroled. His wife and five-year-old daughter are US citizens. Granados Benitez says his wife suffers from a medical condition which prevents her from working and so he was the sole source of income for his family at least until his detention. In a letter, - 3 - Granados Benitez's employer described him as "essential for the daily functioning" of the restaurant where he worked. His daughter's daycare also submitted a letter recounting the positive relationship Granados Benitez has with his daughter. St. Mary of the Isle Catholic Church submitted a letter confirming that Granados Benitez is a parishioner. The IJ credited Granados Benitez's testimony that he left Honduras to avoid pressure to participate in drug-trafficking activity, in part because of ...
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