Calderon-Rodriguez v. Sessions, No. 16-70225 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit granted a petition for review of the BIA's decision dismissing his appeal challenging the IJ's competence determination. The panel held that the BIA in two related ways abused its discretion in affirming the IJ’s competence evaluation and determination. First, the BIA affirmed the IJ's inaccurate factual finding about the mental health evidence in the record and failed to recognize that the medical record upon which the BIA and the IJ heavily relied was nearly a year old and may no longer reflect petitioner's mental state. Second, the BIA abused its discretion by affirming the IJ's departure from the standards set forth in Matter of M-A-M-, 25 I&N Dec. at 480–81. In this case, the IJ did not adequately ensure that DHS complied with its obligation to provide the court with relevant materials in its possession that would inform the court about petitioner's mental competency. The panel remanded with instructions.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel granted Henri Calderon-Rodriguez’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision, concluding that the Board in two related ways abused its discretion in affirming the IJ’s competence evaluation and determination. First, the Board affirmed the IJ’s inaccurate factual findings, failing to recognize that the medical record upon which the IJ and Board heavily relied was nearly a year old, and that it may have no longer reflected Calderon’s mental state. Second, the Board affirmed the IJ’s departure from the standards set out by the Board for competency determinations in Matter of M-A-M-, 25 I. & N. Dec. 474 (BIA 2011). Specifically, the panel concluded that the IJ did not adequately ensure that the Department of Homeland Security complied with its obligation to provide the court with relevant materials in its possession that would inform the court about Calderon's mental competency. In this respect, the panel noted that, importantly, neither the IJ nor the Board recognized that, as DHS was providing ongoing medical care to Calderon as a detainee, it necessarily possessed additional relevant, but not introduced, medical records. CALDERON V. SESSIONS 3 The panel remanded to the Board with instructions to remand Calderon’s case to the IJ for a competence evaluation based on current mental health reviews and medical records, as well as any other relevant evidence.
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