DIAZ MELLADO AKA AKA v. BARR (2019)

MEMORANDUM **

Ivan Diaz-Mellado, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We grant the petition for review.

The BIA denied cancellation of removal for failure to demonstrate 10 years of continuous physical presence prior to service of Diaz-Mellado’s notice to appear (“NTA”). However, the BIA did not have the benefit of the Supreme Court’s decision in Pereira v. Sessions, ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 2105, 201 L.Ed.2d 433 (2018), which held that an NTA that fails to designate the time and place of an alien’s removal proceedings does not trigger the stop-time rule ending the alien’s accrual of continuous presence. Diaz-Mellado’s NTA did not specify the time and place of his hearing. We thus grant the petition for review, and remand to the agency for further proceedings consistent with Pereira.

In light of our disposition, we do not reach Diaz-Mellado’s contentions regarding administrative voluntary departure and equitable estoppel.

PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.