The Ninth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Guatemalan man ordered removed in absentia after arriving five minutes late to his hearing because of a flat tire, holding that the agency erred by requiring him to corroborate his account with documentary evidence and by faulting him for not submitting a formal affidavit.
The Court held that pro se petitioners need not submit a formal affidavit, and that because motions to reopen are decided without a hearing, the agency must accept a petitioner's account as true unless it is inherently unbelievable, without requiring independent corroboration. The Court remanded for the agency to reconsider the motion under the correct evidentiary standard.
The full text of Trigueros Quizar v. Blanche can be found here: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2026/09/04/24-4847.pdf