United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit _________________________________ No. 19-2425 _________________________________ Ali Mohammed Juma Alzawed, Petitioner v. William P. Barr, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent __________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals __________ Submitted: May 12, 2020 Filed: July 31, 2020 Before COLLOTON and BENTON, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAMS,1 District Judge. WILLIAMS, District Judge. Iraqi citizen Ali Mohammed Juma Alzawed petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (IJ) decision denying deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We deny the petition. 1 The Honorable C.J. Williams, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa, sitting by designation. I. According to Alzawed, between 1986 and 1989 Iraqi government officials tortured him on three occasions. Each occasion was tied to Alzawed’s uncle, Sami Sadoon, who is a Sunni Muslim and at the time held a position in Saddam Hussein’s government. On the first occasion, Iraqi government authorities detained Alzawed and other family members and tortured them for six months when Sadoon’s son went absent without leave from the military. On another occasion, government officials tortured Alzawed when he refused to attend mandatory government-sponsored classes. On the third occasion, government officials detained and tortured Alzawed and other family members because of a suspicion that a family member was a communist. In 1991, Alzawed also saw a mob kill Sadoon’s sons and Alzawed helped others gather wood with which to burn the bodies. In 1995, Alzawed entered the United States as a refugee. On February 6, 2001, Alzawed was convicted in Missouri state court on two counts of child molestation in the first degree and was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. On May 16, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against Alzawed based on his convictions. On October 24, 2006, an IJ denied Alzawed’s request for a waiver of removal and his request for deferral of deportation under the CAT and ordered Alzawed removed to Iraq. Alzawed did not appeal. In April 2010, Alzawed was convicted in California state court for possession of methamphetamine for sale, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. In 2017, Alzawed was convicted in Missouri state court of domestic abuse assault in the second degree and unlawful use of a weapon, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. In January 2018, Alzawed moved to reopen proceedings, arguing that conditions in Iraq had changed substantially and again requested deferral of -2- deportation under the CAT. On January 29, 2018, an IJ denied Alzawed’s requests. On July 30, 2018, the BIA reversed the IJ’s decision and remanded the case for hearing. In November 2018, an IJ held a hearing on Alzawed’s requests. On December 17, 2018, the IJ issued a decision denying Alzawed’s requests. The IJ found that because of res judicata, the 2006 decision precluded the IJ from considering a CAT deferral on facts raised in ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals