Recently in Immigration Law Category

An Iraqi petitioner's request for review of BIA's denial of his application for asylum and related relief is vacated and remanded as the immigration judge never made a finding of fact regarding the length of time that petitioner actually served in prison for his assault conviction, and should he be found to have served less than one year in prison, he should be held not to be an aggravated felon and not removable.     

Read Shaya v. Holder, No. 08-4619

Appellate Information

Argued: October 6, 2009

Decided and Filed: November 9, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Circuit Judge Martin

Counsel

For Appellant:  John W. Blakeley, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

For Appellee:  Mark Jacob Thomas, Mark Jacob Thomas & Associates, Chicago, Illinois.

Petitioners' request for review of BIA's denial of their application for asylum and related relief from being returned back to Yemen is denied in part and granted in part where: 1) the portion of the petition regarding asylum is denied as the court lacks jurisdiction to review whether an IJ failed to afford the petitioners due process by not excusing the untimeliness of their applications; 2) petitioners' due process arguments with respect to the IJ's denial of their applications for asylum are without merit; and 3) request for review of the portion of the petition requesting the withholding of removal is granted as the record contains ample evidence that the General will kill the petitioners if they are returned to Yemen and nothing in the record suggests that conditions in Yemen have changed such that the government there will now be able to control the powerful General.     

Read Al-Ghorbani v. Holder, No. 08-3376

Appellate Information

Argued: October 15, 2009

Decided and Filed: November 9, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Circuit Judge Gilman

Counsel

For Appellant:  Richard A. Kulics, Reza Athari & Associates, Murray, Utah.

For Appellee:  David V. Bernal, Lance L. Jolley, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

BIA's denial of Lebanese petitioner's application for asylum is affirmed as an immigration judge's determination that an asylum application is time barred does not preclude the judge from also finding that the same application is frivolous.     

Read Ghazali v. Holder, No. 08-4229

Appellate Information

Argued: October 7, 2009

Decided and Filed: October 29, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Circuit Judge Sutton

Counsel

For Appellant:  Ronald E. Kaplovitz, Kaplovitz & Associates, Sylvan Lake, Michigan

For Appellee:  Patrick James Glen, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Petition for review of BIA's decision to uphold the IJ's finding that a Syrian petitioner's former marriage to a US citizen was a sham is denied as the marriage was entered into in an attempt to allow him to remain in the United States and thus uphold the IJ's ruling that petitioner is removable under section 237(a)(1) as supported by substantial evidence.  Petitioner's remaining claims are rejected.     

Read Abdulahad v. Holder, No. 08-3850

Appellate Information

Argued:June 16, 2009

Decided and Filed: September 15, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Friedman

Counsel

For Appellant:  Russell R. Abrutyn, Marshale E. Hyman & Associates PC.    

For Appellee:  Jesse Lloyd Busen, United States Department of Justice.   

In a petition for review of the BIA's order holding that petitioner was subject to removal on the grounds that his criminal conviction for second degree assault under extreme emotional disturbance under Kentucky law was an aggravated felony and that his conviction for reckless homicide was a crime of moral turpitude, the petition is granted: where 1) the BIA erred when it applied the post-IIRIRA definition of "aggravated felony" to petitioner's case because the issuance of an arrest warrant by the INS which had not been canceled constituted an "action taken" for purposes of triggering application of the pre-IIRIRA definition of an aggravated felony; and 2) neither of petitioner's prior convictions constituted an aggravated felony under the pre-IIRIRA definition. The matter is remanded for reconsideration of whether petitioner's conviction for reckless homicide constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude.

Read Saqr v. Holder, No. 07-3794

Appellate Information

Argued: December 5, 2008

Decided and Filed: September 9, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Stamp

Counsel

For Petitioner:

Blake P. Somers, Cincinnati, OH

For Respondent:

Blair O'Connor, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC

In a petition for review of the BIA's order removing Petitioner from the U.S., the petition is denied where sufficient evidence supported the BIA's rulings that: 1) Petitioner abandoned her lawful permanent resident status; 2) her seven-year absence from the U.S. was not a temporary visit abroad; 3) her conduct was imputable to her son (an unemancipated minor during the relevant period); and 4) the son did not automatically acquire citizenship based upon his father's naturalization prior to the removal proceedings.

Read Karimijanaki v. Holder, No. 08-4622

Appellate Information

Argued: August 5, 2009

Decided and Filed: August 28, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Griffin

Counsel

For Petitioners:

Marshal E. Hyman, Marshal E. Hyman & Associates, P.C., Troy, MI

For Respondent:

M. Jocelyn Lopez Wright, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC

In a petition for review of the BIA's order removing petitioner from the U.S., the petition is denied where: 1) in determining that petitioner was removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. section 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) for willfully misrepresenting a material fact, the BIA was not required to find that petitioner had an intent to deceive; and 2) the BIA's determination that petitioner assisted in the persecution of others was supported by substantial evidence.

Read Parlak v. Holder, No. 05-4488

Appellate Information

Argued: October 22, 2007

Decided and Filed: August 24, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Gibbons

Dissent by Judge Martin

Counsel

For Petitioner:

David S. Foster, Latham & Watkins, Chicago, IL

For Respondent:

Christopher C. Fuller, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

In a petition for review of the BIA's order removing petitioners from the U.S., the petition is denied where: 1) the five-year statute of limitations on rescission proceedings did not bar the government from initiating removal proceedings based on petitioners' fraud in their asylum applications; 2) the Immigration Judge did not err in allowing the government to initiate removal proceedings without first seeking to revoke petitioners' asylee status; and 3) the IJ properly denied their motion to subpoena material witnesses.

Read Stolaj v. Holder, No. 08-3858

Appellate Information

Argued: August 4, 2009

Decided and Filed: August 19, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Rogers

Concurrence by Judge Moore

Counsel

For Petitioners:

Andrea J. Ferrara, Law Offices of Andrea J. Ferrara, Eastpointe, MI

For Respondent:

James E. Grimes, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

In a petition for review of the BIA's order removing petitioner-Yemeni native from the U.S., the petition is denied where: 1) the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to review the factual aspects of petitioner's challenge to the denial of his request for voluntary departure; and 2) petitioner was not entitled to relief under the Convention Against Torture, because the persecution he would allegedly suffer upon return to Yemen would not originate from pain or suffering either initiated by a public official or inflicted with the consent or acquiescence of such an official.

Read Alhaj v. Holder, No. 08-3322

Appellate Information

Submitted: March 9, 2009

Decided and Filed: July 10, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Daughtrey

Counsel

For Petitioner:

David K. Wenger, Wenger & Associates, PC, Detroit, MI

For Respondent:

Nehal H. Kamani, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

In an action challenging the BIA's denial of petitioner's request for permanent resident status, summary judgment for petitioner is affirmed where a "surviving alien-spouse" is a "spouse" within the meaning of the "immediate relative" provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. section 1151(b)(2)(A)(i).

Read Lockhart v. Napolitano, 08-3321

Appellate Information

Argued: January 20, 2009

Decided and Filed: July 20, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Cole

Counsel

For Appellants:

Elizabeth J. Stevens, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

For Appellee:

Brent W. Renison, Parrilli Renison, Lake Oswego, OR