The Second Circuit has granted a petition for review of a denied asylum case, finding the decision was riddled with errors. First, the agency erroneously required that a changed circumstance (for one-year filing deadline tolling) not be one caused by the applicant. Second, the agency’s discretionary denial of asylum was based solely on the applicant’s criminal history, without any consideration of his equities. Third, the agency erroneously qualified the applicant’s wire fraud as a crime against the person, which brought it within the ambit of a particularly serious crime. The court noted that wire fraud is a crime against property, not against a person. Fourth, the judge made no reference to an expert declaration, nor gave any reason for discounting it.
The full text of Ojo v. Garland can be found here: