17-2627 (L) Alom v. Whitaker UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ___________________ August Term, 2018 (Argued: August 21, 2018 Decided: December 17, 2018) Docket Nos. 17-2627 (L), 18-1384 (Con) ___________________ MD TITUMIR ALOM, Petitioner, v. MATTHEW G. WHITAKER, ACTING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ___________________ Before: HALL, LOHIER, Circuit Judges, and RESTANI, Judge.1 Petitioner MD Titumir Alom, a native and citizen of Bangladesh, seeks review of two decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals. The first affirmed his order of removal and an immigration judge’s denial of a waiver of the the joint filing requirement to remove the conditions on his permanent resident status on the grounds that his marriage had not been entered in good faith. The second denied Alom’s motion to reopen and reconsider. Alom argues that (1) the Board erred by reviewing the waiver denial for clear error rather than de novo; and (2) the Board ignored evidence presented with his motion to reopen to demonstrate that he and his ex-wife entered into their marriage in good faith. We remand to the agency on the first point because the Board applied only clear error review. Although the underlying factual findings are subject to such review, whether the evidence satisfies a petitioner’s burden to prove entitlement to a good faith marriage waiver is a mixed question of law and fact subject to de novo review. Alom’s second argument is abandoned because 1 Judge Jane A. Restani, of the United States Court of International Trade, sitting by designation. 1 he does not assert a meaningful challenge to the agency’s denial of reopening and reconsideration. Petition granted in part and denied in part. ___________________ KHAGENDRA GHARTI-CHHETRY, New York, NY, for Petitioner. IMRAN R. ZAIDI, Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division (Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division; Julie M. Iversen, Senior Litigation Counsel, on the brief), United States Department of Justice, Washington DC, for Respondent. ___________________ PER CURIAM: Petitioner, MD Titumir Alom, a native and citizen of Bangladesh, seeks review of a July 28, 2017 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming an October 3, 2016 decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying Alom’s application for a good faith marriage waiver of the joint filing requirement to remove the conditions on his permanent residency. Alom also seeks review of an April 9, 2018 decision of the BIA denying his motion to reopen and reconsider. The issues before us are whether (1) the BIA applied the wrong standard of review in considering the IJ’s good faith marriage determination; and (2) whether the BIA abused its discretion when it declined to reopen or reconsider. We answer the first question in the affirmative: the BIA invoked only clear error review, but whether a petitioner satisfied his burden of proof for a good faith marriage waiver is a mixed question of law and fact subject to de novo review. We decline to answer the second question because Alom has abandoned any challenge to the BIA’s denial ...
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