NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 20a0717n.06 Case No. 20-1576 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Dec 23, 2020 ABUDUFATAH ABDULLA, et al., ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED v. ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR ) THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENNETH CUCCINELLI, et al., ) MICHIGAN ) Defendants-Appellees. ) BEFORE: SUHRHEINRICH, CLAY, and DONALD, Circuit Judges. BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge. In this immigration matter, we consider the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of Abudufatah Abdulla’s five petitions to classify certain noncitizens as immediate relatives. Specifically, we consider whether the BIA’s denial was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and whether the denial complied with due process. Because we hold the BIA’s decisions were not arbitrary and capricious and because the afforded procedures satisfied due process, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the government.1 1 Abdulla’s brief asserts that he also appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the government on Abdulla’s Declaratory Judgment Act claim. Nowhere in his briefing, however, does Abdulla submit any arguments relevant to the declaratory judgment claim, nor did he do so before the district court despite Defendants moving for summary judgment on that claim. In any event, Abdulla’s complaint requests a declaration under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that Defendants’ actions were arbitrary and capricious, but because we hold the actions were not arbitrary and capricious under the APA, Abdulla’s claim under the Declaratory Judgment Act must also fail. Case No. 20-1576, Abdulla, et al. v. Cuccinelli, et al. I. BACKGROUND A. Abdulla’s I-130 Petitions before USCIS Plaintiff-Appellant Abudufatah M. Abdulla has been a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2008. On November 9, 2010, Abdulla filed five I-130 Petitions for Alien Relative on behalf of his claimed wife (Musa) and four children (Wagdi, Mohamed, Manal, and G.A.). Such petitions provide for “immediate relative status” which would thereafter allow Abdulla to pursue an immigration visa for Musa and the four children. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) and 1154(a)(1)(A)(i). Regarding Musa, a Yemen national, Abdulla submitted a Yemeni marriage contract showing he and Musa married on September 25, 2002, but that marriage contract was not registered in Yemeni’s civil records until 2009. In further support of the I-130 petition for Musa, Abdulla submitted a death certificate for Musa’s allegedly former husband, Mohmed Muthana Ali Saleh (“Saleh”), showing Saleh’s death on February 25, 2001; that certificate was not registered in Yemen until December 15, 2002. Abdulla also provided a letter (with an unknown date) from Musa in which she expresses her love for Abdulla and explains that all four children “are all your children and my children with one father and one mother.” Abdulla himself wrote a letter (dated October 27, 2010) in which he asserts that Musa’s parents “married her off” to Saleh during which Abdulla and Musa continued to see each other. For three of the claimed children (Wagdi, Mohamed, and ...
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