NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 18a0050n.06 No. 17-3457 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED ABAZ JASHARI, ) Jan 25, 2018 ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) OF AN ORDER OF THE ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, Attorney General, ) APPEALS ) Respondent. ) ) BEFORE: ROGERS, McKEAGUE, and WHITE, Circuit Judges. WHITE, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Abaz Jashari seeks review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Jashari argues that the Board erred (1) by failing to treat Jashari’s false testimony as “timely retracted,” (2) by finding that Jashari had filed a frivolous application for asylum, (3) by finding that Jashari had withdrawn his application for withholding of removal, (4) by denying Jashari’s motion to reopen the removal proceedings based on the allegedly ineffective assistance of counsel, and (5) by failing to remand to the Immigration Judge to address allegedly changed circumstances stemming from Jashari’s conversion to Christianity. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. I. Background Abaz Jashari was born in Kosovo on April 8, 1973. Jashari is a citizen of the former Yugoslavia, and further identified as a Muslim Albanian Kosovar. Jashari entered the United No. 17-3457 Jashari v. Sessions States at an unknown place and time and has provided conflicting information concerning the date, place, and manner of his entry. Jashari’s wife and three children have U.S. citizenship. On January 11, 2008, Jashari filed a Form I-589 “Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal” with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Form I-589 is the vehicle by which immigrants can request three different kinds of relief: asylum, withholding of removal, and protection pursuant to the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT). Jashari requested all three forms of relief. At this time, Jashari was represented by attorney Svetlana Schreiber. Prior to filing his I-589, Jashari received a letter informing him of the “consequences of knowingly filing a frivolous application for asylum in the United States.” (R. 530.) The letter noted that if Jashari “knowingly file[d] a frivolous application for asylum, [he] WILL BE BARRED FOREVER from receiving any benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act.” (Id. (emphasis in original).) The letter defined a “frivolous” application as “one which contains statements or responses to questions that are deliberately fabricated.” (Id.) Jashari was interviewed by an asylum officer on May 20, 2008, with the assistance of an Albanian interpreter and signed a document making the following declarations: I understand that, under the laws of the United States, if I sign or submit a statement or document I know is false or has no reasonable basis in fact that pertains to a material fact in any application, affidavit, or other document required by the immigration laws or regulations, I may be fined or imprisoned not more than five years. I also understand that if I filed my asylum application on or after April 1, 1997, I may be forever barred ...
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