Case: 18-14486 Date Filed: 03/05/2020 Page: 1 of 17 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-14486 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A094-570-601 THOMAS LENOR, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (March 5, 2020) Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, JILL PRYOR, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 18-14486 Date Filed: 03/05/2020 Page: 2 of 17 Thomas Lenor entered the United States as a refugee in 2004. Soon after he was arrested for and convicted of petit theft. After that, he continued to commit more crimes, including violent ones. The Department of Homeland Security then sought to remove Lenor based on his extensive criminal conduct. In time Lenor conceded removability but tried to avoid removal on other grounds. He filed an application for a waiver of inadmissibility and an adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(a), (c), as well as an application for withholding of removal under 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c). An Immigration Judge denied his applications. The Board of Immigration Appeals then dismissed his appeal. This is his petition for review of the Board’s decision. I. Lenor is a native and citizen of Sierra Leone. He was admitted to the United States as a refugee in February 2004. In 2010 the Department of Homeland Security issued Lenor a notice to appear and charged him as being removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) for having been convicted of an aggravated felony based on his Florida convictions for burglary of a dwelling, criminal mischief, burglary of a dwelling with an assault or a battery, robbery with a firearm, and third-degree grand theft of a motor vehicle. The Department later charged Lenor with two additional grounds for removability in connection with his 2 Case: 18-14486 Date Filed: 03/05/2020 Page: 3 of 17 Florida conviction for possession of cocaine. He eventually conceded removability for having been convicted of that offense. See 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i). After receiving a notice to appear, Lenor filed an application for a waiver of inadmissibility and an adjustment of status. He is an inadmissible refugee because of his criminal conduct and would require a waiver to adjust his status under § 1159(a). His waiver application stated that his parents and brother were United States citizens and that he would suffer exceptional and extremely unusual hardship if removed to Sierra Leone given the poor country conditions, his “mental health condition,” and the lack of mental health care. Lenor then filed a motion seeking permission to have expert witness Dr. Ayana Jordan testify over the phone about the stigma surrounding mental illness and the lack of mental health treatment in Sierra Leone. Lenor stated that he was indigent and could not afford to pay an expert witness, that the law clinic representing him pro bono could not reimburse Dr. Jordan’s travel expenses, and that Dr. Jordan was providing her services pro bono and could not pay ...
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Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals