NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Argued November 15, 2018 Decided November 27, 2018 Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge AMY J. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge No. 18‐2062 ABDULKARIM ALI AHMED Petition for Review of an Order of the AL HABABI, Board of Immigration Appeals. Petitioner, No. A078‐669‐992 v. MATTHEW G. WHITAKER, Acting Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. O R D E R Abdulkarim Ali Ahmed Al Hababi, a 55‐year‐old Yemeni citizen, seeks review of the denial of his untimely motion to reopen removal proceedings based on changed country conditions: namely, the ascendency of ISIS, which killed his son in 2016. The Board of Immigration Appeals denied Al Hababi’s motion because his evidence— various documents related to his son’s death and the 2016 State Department Country Report on Yemen—did not show that he was prima facie eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture. We deny the petition for review. No. 18‐2062 Page 2 Background Al Hababi entered the United States on a six‐month visitor’s visa in 1999 and overstayed. The Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings in 2001. At that time, Al Hababi—expressing a fear of persecution if returned to Yemen on account of “tribal differences”—applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. He explained that he was the sheikh of the Hababi tribe, which was involved in a violent land dispute with a rival tribe whose ruling sheikh recently had been killed, and he feared retaliation if he returned to Yemen. An Immigration Judge denied his applications, explaining that Al Hababi’s fear was based on a tribal feud rather than persecution on account of his political view or membership in a social group, and that he had not shown “more likely than not” that he would be tortured if removed to Yemen. The judge granted Al Hababi voluntary departure. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the decision, without opinion, in 2003. Al Hababi then filed a motion to reconsider the Board’s decision and argued that the Board erred in concluding that he feared persecution “sole[ly] based upon a personal matter.” The Board denied his motion. Al Hababi never left the country, and fifteen years later, in early 2018, he filed a pro se motion to reopen removal proceedings, this time on grounds that he feared persecution from ISIS. Al Hababi asserted that he feared ISIS would harm him because of his familial relationship with his son, Abdul Rahman Ali Al Hababi, who had been “studying at an American school for language” and whom ISIS suspected of working with the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Al Hababi added that ISIS has promoted violence against persons like himself who do not share its religious beliefs. Al Hababi asserted that, in 2016, ISIS looted his family’s home, kidnapped his daughter‐ in‐law, and killed ...
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