Kwadwo Okyere v. Attorney General United States


NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _______________ No. 18-1840 _______________ KWADWO OKYERE, AKA Richard Frimpong, AKA Akwasi Appiah, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _______________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the United States Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A206-552-872) Immigration Judge: Honorable Kuyomars Q. Golparvar _______________ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) November 16, 2018 Before: GREENAWAY, JR., BIBAS, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: December 20, 2018) ________________ OPINION* ________________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. FUENTES, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Kwadwo Okyere seeks review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals denying his appeal of the Immigration Judge’s order removing him from the United States to Ghana. Before this Court, Okyere asserts that the Immigration Judge violated his right to due process. Because this claim lacks merit, we will deny Okyere’s petition for review. I. Okyere is a native and citizen of Ghana who entered the United States on an unknown date without inspection. In May 2017, the Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings against Okyere. It issued a Notice to Appear, charging Okyere with three grounds of removability: (1) conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude;1 (2) being present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled;2 and (3) not having a valid entry document at the time of his application for admission.3 During a July 2017 hearing before the Immigration Judge,4 Okyere testified that he arrived in the United States in 2014 by flying into John F. Kennedy International 1 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). 2 Id. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). 3 Id. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). 4 Three different Immigration Judges were involved at different stages of this case. For the sake of brevity and clarity, we will not identify them by name, but rather refer to each as “the Immigration Judge.” 2 Airport and using another individual’s passport. He also testified that he was engaged to a United States citizen. Following numerous continuance requests by Okyere’s counsel, a hearing was held in August 2017. At that hearing, counsel for Okyere stated that Okyere had a fiancé who is a United States citizen and he would soon be getting a marriage license. According to counsel, after the marriage, Okyere’s spouse would file a Petition for Alien Relative (Form I–130), and Okyere would file an application for adjustment of status (Form I–485) and an application for waiver of grounds of inadmissibility (Form I–601), seeking to waive unlawful presence as a ground of inadmissibility. Okyere got married on October 17, 2017, and his wife subsequently filed a Petition for Alien Relative. Thereafter, Okyere requested a continuance while the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudicated the petition. According to Okyere, that petition would enable him to seek adjustment of status with a concurrent waiver of inadmissibility.5 The Immigration Judge denied Okyere’s request. In a written ruling, the Immigration ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals