Abdikadir Luhiso v. William P. Barr


NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 19a0504n.06 No. 19-3023 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED ABDIKADIR HAMADI LUHISO, ) Oct 04, 2019 ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk Petitioner, ) ) v. ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) FROM THE UNITED STATES WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION ) APPEALS Respondent. ) ) BEFORE: BOGGS, BATCHELDER, and DONALD, Circuit Judges. BOGGS, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Abdikadir Luhiso seeks review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision denying as untimely his motion to reopen. Luhiso contends that the BIA erred by applying an incorrect standard in evaluating “changed country conditions” under 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii). He also argues that the agency erred by classifying a prior larceny conviction as a crime involving moral turpitude under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii). We find these arguments to be without merit, and we DENY his petition for review. I. Background Luhiso is a twenty-nine-year-old native and citizen of Somalia. In 2003, Luhiso and his family fled to the United States from a refugee camp in Kenya. After coming to the United States, the family lived in New York where, in 2012, Luhiso was convicted of petit larceny. See N.Y. Penal Law § 155.25. Luhiso later moved to Michigan where, on December 5, 2016, he was No. 19-3023, Luhiso v. Barr convicted of assault by strangulation or suffocation based on an altercation with his ex-girlfriend. He was sentenced to 365 days imprisonment. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.84(1)(b). Upon his release, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) took Luhiso into custody and initiated removal proceedings against him. DHS charged Luhiso with removability on two grounds: as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony, under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) and 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F), and as an alien who has been convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude, under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii). On October 17, 2017, an immigration judge found Luhiso removable and ordered him removed to Somalia. Luhiso waived his right to appeal this determination. On April 10, 2018—175 days after the final order of removal—Luhiso filed a motion to reopen his immigration proceedings. Ordinarily, an alien has ninety days after a final order of removal to file a motion to reopen, but that deadline does not apply if the alien can demonstrate “changed country conditions . . . if such evidence is material and was not available and would not have been discovered or presented at the previous proceeding.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii). In support of “changed country conditions,” Luhiso argued that (1) the terrorist group al-Shabaab’s influence had grown within Somalia and (2) an unsuccessful attempt at removing him in December 2017, in which the flight was unable to reach Somalia, had raised his profile in the media and increased his risk of persecution. The immigration judge concluded that Luhiso did not meet his burden of establishing changed country conditions in Somalia between October 2017 and April 2018, and denied his motion to reopen as ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals