US First Circuit Court of Appeals on removal proceedings based on changed country circumstances
The following excerpt is from the decision in Lucaj v. Wilkinson, which was published on 10 March 2021.
Nikolin Lucaj asked the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to reopen his case and to remand it to the Immigration Court for a new hearing in 2006. That motion was denied by the BIA, as was his later motion to reconsider reopening the case (affirmed by this court on appeal). On September 7, 2019, Mr. Lucaj once again asked the BIA to reopen his case on the ground that circumstances, including government corruption, had deteriorated in Albania. The BIA denied his request, and Mr. Lucaj appealed.
To support his case for reopening, Mr. Lucaj had submitted an affidavit complaining about two events that occurred after his removal proceeding in 2006 as evidence of changed conditions. These include the Socialist party coming to power in 2013, and then the Socialists' corruption and connections with organized crime deterring the opposition party from even participating in the 2019 elections.
The court held that the BIA's failure to assess whether those changes were sufficient was arbitrary and capricious and reversed the decision by the BIA. It remanded Mr. Lucaj's case so that the BIA can review available evidence to examine whether conditions for members of the Democratic Party in Albania have deteriorated since 2006 and, if so, whether Mr. Lucaj has established a prima facie case for relief. [Read more here].
