Appellate Case: 21-9582 Document: 010110779225 Date Filed: 12/08/2022 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT December 8, 2022 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court ADNAN KHUDAIR SHAREEF AL- GHIZI, Petitioner, v. No. 21-9582 (Petition for Review) MERRICK B. GARLAND, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before TYMKOVICH, BRISCOE, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ The United States admitted Adnan Al-Ghizi as an Iraqi refugee. Following his conviction for violating a protective order, an immigration judge (IJ) ordered Al- Ghizi’s removal to Iraq in 2012. Al-Ghizi filed a motion to reopen removal proceedings based on changed country conditions and ineffective assistance of counsel. An IJ denied his motion, and the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his appeal. He now seeks review of the Board’s denial. We deny Al-Ghizi’s petition for review because the Board did not abuse its discretion in concluding that he failed * This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. Appellate Case: 21-9582 Document: 010110779225 Date Filed: 12/08/2022 Page: 2 to show a material change in country conditions and that his prior counsel’s ineffective assistance prejudiced him. I. Background The United States admitted Al-Ghizi as a refugee in 1996. Several years later, a state court convicted him of violating a protective order. The state court determined he “engaged in conduct that violated a portion of the order that involved protection against credible reports of violence, repeated harassment, or bodily injury to the person or persons for whom the protection order was issued.” R., Vol. I at 78. Because of this conviction, the Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against him under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(ii) in 2012. Appearing before the immigration court pro se, Al-Ghizi admitted the allegations in his Notice to Appear, and the court sustained the charge of removability. Al-Ghizi subsequently hired an attorney and submitted an adjustment of status application and an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. At the hearing, the IJ agreed with the Department that Al-Ghizi was ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal relief because his participation in a violent uprising against Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1991 constituted material support of terrorist activity under the terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds statute. The IJ also concluded Al-Ghizi was not eligible for protection under the Convention because (1) Al-Ghizi failed to present evidence of torture, (2) the IJ found Al-Ghizi was not credible, and (3) “as a matter of discretion.” R., Vol. III at 913. Al-Ghizi, through counsel, waived his right to 2 Appellate Case: 21-9582 Document: 010110779225 Date Filed: 12/08/2022 Page: 3 appeal. But the United States did not remove Al-Ghizi because, at that time, Iraq refused to issue travel documents for repatriations of Iraqi …
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