NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION File Name: 19a0379n.06 Case No. 18-3877 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Jul 25, 2019 LAITH FRANCIS, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) FROM THE UNITED STATES ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, ) APPEALS Respondent. ) BEFORE: BATCHELDER, GRIFFIN, and DONALD; Circuit Judges. DONALD, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which GRIFFIN, J., joined, and BATCHELDER, J., joined in the result. BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Laith Francis (“Francis”), a native and citizen of Iraq, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s denial of Francis’ application for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In support of his petition, Francis contends that he is entitled to Deferral of Removal because if he were repatriated to Iraq, he would be targeted as a Chaldean Christian who had been “Americanized”. For the foregoing reasons, we DISMISS part and DENY in part. I. Background Francis entered the United States on February 27, 1974, at the age of eleven with his father and three siblings as a conditional refugee under former 8 U.S.C. § 1153(a)(7). AR 573-74. When Case No. 18-3877, Francis v. Barr he arrived, Francis received permanent resident status but never gained full citizenship. In 1992, Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) filed and served Francis an Order to Show Cause, charging him as deportable under former 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2)(B)(i),1 as an alien who, after entry, was convicted of a controlled substance violation, and under former 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2)(A)(iii),2 as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony. AR 2711-13. In his ensuing proceedings before an Immigration Judge, Francis admitted the factual allegations lodged against him and conceded both charges of deportability. After several proceedings in which Francis sought waiver of deportability under INA § 212(c) and CAT protection, Francis conceded he was not eligible for § 212(c) relief, was denied CAT protection on August 21, 2003 and ordered removed to Iraq. AR 2138-43. Francis did not appeal this decision. AR 2080. Despite his ordered removal, Francis was not deported and has continued to live in the United States. In 2017, Francis filed a motion to reopen his case based on changed country conditions in Iraq, which the Immigration Judge granted. AR 2076-88. Francis subsequently filed an application for protection under CAT and an application for an INA § 212(c) discretionary waiver with the Immigration Judge. In support of their positions on the matter, both Francis and Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) proffered documentary evidence, including declarations from individuals attesting to conditions in Iraq. DHS offered the declarations of Michael Rubin and Douglas Ollivant, while Francis offered the declarations of Mark Lattimer, Daniel Smith, Rebecca Heller, and Nina Shea. After an individual merits hearing, the Immigration Judge denied both applications in a written decision on February 23, 2018. AR 61-62. As to the § ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals