United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 19-3356 ___________________________ Ahmed Abdulkadir Mohamed Petitioner v. William P. Barr, Attorney General of the United States Respondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: October 22, 2020 Filed: December 23, 2020 ____________ Before BENTON, SHEPHERD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. Ahmed Mohamed, a native and citizen of Somalia, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) upholding the decision of an immigration judge (IJ), which denied Mohamed’s motion to reopen removal proceedings based on changed country conditions. For the following reasons, we deny the petition for review. I. Mohamed was admitted to the United States as a conditional lawful permanent resident on December 26, 2001, based on his marriage to a United States citizen. That status was terminated on April 6, 2006, because Mohamed failed to appear for an interview, which was scheduled for the purpose of removing the conditions on his permanent residence. On August 13, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated removal proceedings against Mohamed based on the termination of his lawful status. Mohamed failed to appear for his first scheduled hearing, but an IJ found inadequate proof of service and administratively closed the proceedings. DHS moved to recalendar the proceedings, and a master calendar hearing (a preliminary hearing for removal proceedings) ultimately took place on September 21, 2011. At that hearing, the IJ ordered Mohamed removed in absentia based on his failure to appear at the prior hearing. On January 10, 2017, Mohamed filed a motion to reopen and rescind the in absentia order of removal. The IJ denied the motion, and Mohamed did not appeal the decision to the BIA. On August 2, 2018, more than seven years after the 2011 final order of removal, Mohamed filed a second motion to reopen and sought asylum; withholding of removal; and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Mohamed sought this relief based on changed country conditions in Somalia: an expressly stated exception to the general 90-day time frame to file a motion to reopen removal proceedings. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C). Mohamed alleged that he would be targeted by al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia because of his opposition to the establishment of an authoritarian state based on Sharia law; his religion as a moderate Muslim who opposes the extreme views held by both groups; and his perceived status as an American or Americanized Somali. He argued that he would be readily identified as an Americanized Somali due to his presence on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) failed December 2017 repatriation flight in which -2- ICE attempted to remove 92 Somalis from the United States.1 Mohamed further alleged that al-Shabaab had more recently infiltrated the Somali government and had the increased capacity and power to carry out its threats towards individuals like Mohamed. On April 24, 2019, the IJ denied Mohamed’s motion to reopen in a written decision.2 The IJ first ...
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