United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 19-2250 ___________________________ Abdullahi Jamale Jama Petitioner v. Monty Wilkinson, Acting Attorney General of the United States Respondent1 ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: October 23, 2020 Filed: March 11, 2021 ____________ Before BENTON, SHEPHERD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. Abdullahi Jamale Jama, a native and citizen of Somalia, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). This order upheld the decision of an immigration judge (IJ) ordering Jama to be deported and removed to 1 Respondent Wilkinson is automatically substituted for his predecessor under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2). Somalia and denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). For the following reasons, we deny the petition for review. I. Jama was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, on January 1, 1988. He and his three sisters fled to Kenya in 1991, after the loss of their father and brothers in the Somali civil conflict and the disappearance of their mother. In October 1998, he arrived in the United States and was admitted as a refugee. Jama suffers from physical and mental disabilities. He has limited mobility in his right arm due to a gunshot wound and difficulty walking due to a fall from a third-floor balcony. He further suffers from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Jama began developing a criminal history in 2006. In February 2011, Jama was convicted of felony motor vehicle theft, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.52, subdiv. 2, cl. (17). As a result, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged Jama with removability, under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), 1101(a)(43)(G), as a noncitizen 2 convicted of an aggravated felony. The IJ ordered Jama removed in absentia on February 4, 2013, after he failed to appear at multiple hearings. Jama subsequently sustained additional criminal convictions. Most significantly, he was convicted of second-degree felony assault, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.222, subdiv. 1, in April 2013. In April 2018, Jama, through counsel, moved to rescind the February 2013 in absentia removal order, explaining that he had been in state custody at the time of the proceedings and was unable to attend. Alternatively, he sought to reopen the removal proceedings based on changed country conditions to apply for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under CAT. The IJ granted the motion to 2 The United States Code and the accompanying federal regulations use the term “alien.” This opinion maintains that nomenclature when quoting directly from the text or case law; otherwise it replaces “alien” with “noncitizen.” -2- rescind and reopened the proceedings. During these proceedings, DHS charged Jama with an additional ground for removability, under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), 1101(a)(43)(F), based on Jama’s second-degree felony assault conviction. On July 26, 2018, the IJ held a hearing on the merits of Jama’s case. The IJ considered a voluminous amount of documentary evidence, …
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