Hussam F. v. Sessions

Petitioner's parents, Sunni Muslims, fled Syria before he was born to escape the al-Assad regime. Petitioner was born in Iraq and lived in Yemen. Petitioner obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering. In 2011, Petitioner entered Turkey using a Syrian passport, obtained by his father. Petitioner's cousin, Alhaider, a U.S.-born teacher, traveled to Turkey. They became engaged. Petitioner obtained a new passport through his father, who would not divulge how he obtained it. The passport was actually a stolen blank Syrian passport, to which Petitioner’s information was added. Petitioner obtained a fiancé visa, 8 U.S.C. 1184(d), and traveled the U.S. He and Alhaider were married. Petitioner became a conditional permanent resident. DHS learned that Petitioner might have entered the U.S. using a stolen blank passport. Petitioner was charged as removable under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(1)(A), An IJ granted Petitioner a waiver of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(1)(H), asylum, and withholding of removal. The BIA affirmed the grant of withholding but concluded that Petitioner was not entitled to asylum or to the waiver. The Sixth Circuit held that the Board unreasonably applied its own binding precedent, which dictates that asylum may not be denied solely due to violations of proper immigration procedures; the danger of persecution should outweigh all but the most egregious countervailing factors. Courts generally lack jurisdiction to review discretionary determinations such as the denial of a waiver but the BIA engaged in de novo review of the IJ’s factual findings, in violation of its regulatory obligation to review those findings only for clear error. View "Hussam F. v. Sessions" on Justia Law