
    Juan Gabriel TORRES-RIVAS, Petitioner, v. John ASHCROFT, Attorney General, Respondent.
    No. 02-74340.
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    Argued April 1, 2004.
    Decided April 7, 2004.
    Matthew Gray, Bingham McCutchen LLP, Walnut Creek, CA, for Petitioner.
    Regional Counsel, Immigration & Naturalization Service, Laguna Niguel, CA, District Counsel, Esq., Office of the District Counsel, Los Angeles, CA, Ronald E. LeFevre, Chief Legal Officer, Office of the District Counsel, San Francisco, CA, James R. Grimes, Esq., Isaac R. Campbell, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
    Before: D.W. NELSON, FERNANDEZ, and KLEINFELD, Circuit Judges.
   MEMORANDUM

On the peculiar circumstances of this case, for which the respondent offered no explanation, denial of the motion to reopen was such an abuse of discretion as to entitle petitioner to relief.

The petition is GRANTED, and the case is REMANDED with directions to grant the motion to reopen so that petitioner may obtain a hearing. 
      
       This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
     
      
      . 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); INS v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 322-24, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992); see also INS v. Yang, 519 U.S. 26, 32, 117 S.Ct. 350, 136 L.Ed.2d 288 (1996).
     