United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 19-2842 ___________________________ Laith Shakir Shazi Petitioner v. Monty Wilkinson, Acting Attorney General of the United States; David Pekoske, Acting Secretary, Dept. of Homeland Security Respondents1 ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: October 21, 2020 Filed: February 11, 2021 ____________ Before BENTON, SHEPHERD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. Laith Shakir Shazi, a native and citizen of Iraq, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) upholding the decision of an immigration judge (IJ) that terminated Shazi’s withholding of removal status; denied 1 Respondents Wilkinson and Pekoske are automatically substituted for their predecessors under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2). his application for protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT); and denied his motion to remand based on new evidence. For the following reasons, we grant the petition for review. I. Shazi is an Iraqi native and citizen born in a neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, on March 20, 1971. Shazi was a member of the National Iraqi Democrats, an organization that assisted the United States and allied forces in their effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein in the mid-1990s. Shazi aided the movement by taking photographs of and collecting information and intel on suspected biological weapon development sites in Baghdad. As a result of this experience, Shazi allegedly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. Subsequently, the Red Cross and the United States partnered to extract those assisting the American forces, including Shazi, and transport them ultimately to Guam. On or about October 23, 1996, Shazi was admitted to the United States in Guam as a parolee, and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service granted his application for asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a) on March 7, 1997. Once in the United States, Shazi worked with a security firm to further assist American troops by teaching them Arabic and how to “blend in” and avoid danger in Iraq. His involvement ceased in 2003 when Saddam Hussein was killed. Shazi developed a criminal history beginning in 2007, when he was convicted of making terroristic threats and assault in the fifth degree. In 2011, Shazi was convicted of malicious punishment of a child and felony domestic assault. In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) commenced removal proceedings against Shazi in 2012, charging him with removability pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii), (iii), and (E)(i). The IJ sustained all the charges of removal based on the convictions but granted Shazi’s application for withholding of removal. In 2016, Shazi was convicted of making terroristic threats, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.713, subdiv. 1, and domestic abuse, in violation of Minn. Stat. -2- § 518B.01, subdiv. 14(a). In 2018, DHS moved the immigration court to reopen Shazi’s removal proceedings for the purpose of terminating his grant of withholding- of-removal status based on these convictions. The IJ granted the motion to reopen but continued the request to ...
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