2022 Supreme(US)(ca5) 109
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Garcia – Appellant
Versus
Garland – Respondent
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
March 14, 2022
No. 19-60793 Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
Blas Eduardo Garcia,
Petitioner,
versus
Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,
Respondent.
Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
BIA No. A095 236 911
Before Jolly, Higginson, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges.
Stephen A. Higginson, Circuit Judge:
Blas Eduardo Garcia petitions for review of two Board of Immigration
Appeals (“BIA”) orders denying his motions to reopen. For the reasons set
forth below, we DENY his petitions.
I.
Garcia is a native and citizen of Mexico who first entered the United
States in 1994. He received administrative voluntary departure in 2001 and
subsequently returned to the United States without having been admitted or
paroled. In 2004, Garcia was sent a notice to appear (“NTA”) charging him
Case: 19-60793 Document: 00516237001 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/14/2022
No. 19-60793
as subject to removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). The NTA listed “a
date to be set” and “a time to be set.” In 2007 an Immigration Judge (“IJ”)
ordered Garcia removed from the United States. The BIA affirmed the
removal order in 2008. Garcia was deported in 2010 and thereafter returned
without inspection.
In September 2018, Garcia filed a motion to reopen with the BIA. He
argued in part that, under both Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018), and
the plain meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1)(G)(i), his NTA was deficient for
failing to state the time and date of his removal proceedings. The BIA denied
the motion, concluding in part that it was time-barred and that reopening the
proceedings under Pereira v. Sessions was foreclosed by Pierre-Paul v. Barr,
930 F.3d 684 (5th Cir. 2019).
Garcia then filed a second motion to reopen seeking to apply for
asylum and withholding of removal based on changed country conditions in
Mexico. Garcia stated that he was recently diagnosed with HIV and was
receiving antiviral treatment. He argued that country conditions and his own
personal circumstances had changed since 2007 and that because of his
diagnosis, he would be perceived as a member of the LGBT community and
would accordingly face a substantial risk of persecution and/or torture on
account of his membership in the particular social groups of: (1)
“[h]omosexuals in Mexico (imputed)”; (2) “[i]ndividuals in Mexico who are
HIV positive”; and (3) “HIV positive men in Mexico.” The BIA denied the
motion. The BIA concluded that the motion to reopen was untimely and that
the evidence Garcia submitted failed to demonstrate the kind of materially
changed country conditions that would warrant an exception to the time limit
for motions to reopen. Rather, the submitted documents showed the
“continuation of the same or similar conditions or circumstances” as those
existing at the time of Garcia’s removal hearing in 2007. The BIA further
determined that Garcia had “not made a prima facie showing that he will
2
Case: 19-
Click Here to Read the rest of this document