The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Jamaican domestic violence survivor whose motion to reopen removal proceedings under VAWA was denied as untimely, even though his attorney had tried to file it on the deadline both electronically and in person, only to be turned away each time by the immigration court itself.
The Court held that the INA's grant of a statutory right to file a motion to reopen creates a protected liberty interest, and that the record compelled the conclusion that the immigration court's own refusal to accept a timely filing rendered the proceedings fundamentally unfair and prejudiced the outcome. The Court rejected the BIA's reasoning that the petitioner's failure to return to the courthouse the next day, or to have already filed his VAWA self-petition with USCIS, undermined his claim, since neither was required to establish timeliness or prejudice. The Court reversed and remanded, noting that filing a motion "should not be a game of gotcha."
The full text of Burey v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251869.P.pdf