Buckley v. Blanche

── Buckley v. Blanche ── Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit Nos. 24-1957, 25-1186 LUZ STELLA BUCKLEY, Petitioner, v. TODD BLANCHE,* Acting Attorney General, Respondent. PETITIONS FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Montecalvo, Howard, and Aframe, Circuit Judges. Stephen McCall Born, with whom Mills and Born, were on brief, for petitioner. Allison Frayer, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, with whom Brett Shumate, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Sarah Byrd, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, were on brief, for respondent. May 29, 2026 * Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2), Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is automatically substituted for former Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi as Respondent.  AFRAME, Circuit Judge. Colombian citizen Luz Stella Buckley brings two petitions for review of adverse decisions by the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA"). In the first, Buckley challenges the BIA's dismissal of her appeal from an immigration judge's ("IJ") order denying her application for adjustment of status. We reject this petition primarily because Buckley did not file a timely brief with the BIA. In the second petition, Buckley challenges the BIA's denial of her motion to reopen her appeal based on her counsel's ineffective assistance for failing to file a brief. We grant this petition because the BIA abused its discretion in denying the motion to reopen. The BIA provided no explanation for its conclusion that Buckley failed to satisfy the procedural requirements for reopening an appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel. And because the BIA overlooked Buckley's strong argument for vacating the IJ's order denying adjustment of status, there is a reasonable probability that Buckley was prejudiced by her counsel's ineffectiveness. I. In April 2019, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") initiated removal proceedings against Buckley for overstaying a visa that expired in 2005. In December 2021, Buckley conceded removability but indicated that she would seek adjustment of status based on a family-based visa petition filed by her adult - 2 - son. In November 2022, after the DHS approved the petition, an IJ heard evidence on Buckley's adjustment-of-status application. Buckley was the only witness and testified as follows. Buckley came to the United States from Colombia in October 1989. Her name then was Luz Estella Giraldo. She moved to Tennessee with her first husband who came first as a student before obtaining a work permit.1 While in the United States, Buckley gave birth to two children and took care of them full time. In 1991, Buckley was charged in Knoxville, Tennessee, with shoplifting based on allegations that she took two items worth $104 from a Hess's department store. Buckley described the incident as a "misunderstanding." A Tennessee court dismissed the charge. In 1995, when her first husband had finished his work in the United States, Buckley and her family returned to Colomb