NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 20a0463n.06 No. 19-4116 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Aug 05, 2020 HAOCHUN SUN, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) FROM THE UNITED STATES ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, ) APPEALS ) Respondent. ) ) ) BEFORE: SUHRHEINRICH, GIBBONS, and BUSH, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. Haochun Sun petitions this court for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) summarily affirming the denial of his untimely motion to reopen an in absentia removal order. As set forth below, we DISMISS the petition for review. Sun, a native and citizen of China, entered the United States with a J-1 exchange visitor visa in August 2010. After his visa expired in May 2011, Sun filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, asserting that he was persecuted by the Chinese government because he is a Christian. An asylum officer interviewed Sun and referred his application to the immigration court. The Department of Homeland Security served Sun with a notice to appear in removal proceedings, charging him with remaining in the United States for a time longer than permitted by his visa. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B). Before the immigration court, Sun admitted the factual allegations contained in the notice to appear and conceded removability as charged. No. 19-4116, Sun v. Barr Sun’s counsel subsequently filed a motion to change venue to the immigration court in Memphis, Tennessee, based on Sun’s change of address from San Francisco, California, to Conway, Arkansas. The motion was granted, and Sun appeared before the immigration court in Memphis for a hearing on May 29, 2014. At that hearing, the immigration judge (IJ) scheduled an individual hearing for May 11, 2016, and Sun was personally served with a copy of the hearing notice. On March 7, 2016, Sun’s counsel filed a motion to withdraw, asserting that, despite multiple attempts to contact Sun, counsel had not received any response from Sun since the hearing on May 29, 2014. Counsel attached a letter sent to Sun’s address in Conway, Arkansas, advising him of his hearing scheduled for May 11, 2016, warning him of the consequences of failing to appear, and enclosing a copy of the hearing notice. The IJ granted counsel’s motion to withdraw and mailed a copy of the hearing notice to Sun’s address in Conway, Arkansas. The immigration court subsequently received a handwritten note stating: “The person Sun Haochun is no longer liv[ing] here and there is no way for me to pass the letter to him.” Sun failed to appear for the hearing on May 11, 2016, and the IJ ordered his removal in absentia. A month later, the immigration court received a change of address form, purportedly signed and mailed on March 15, 2016, indicating that Sun had moved from Conway, Arkansas, to Westerville, Ohio. On August 3, 2018, more than two years ...
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