NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 23a0185n.06 Nos. 21-3826 / 22-3731 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Apr 21, 2023 ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk BASAM PETROS, ) Petitioner, ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) v. FROM THE BOARD OF ) IMMIGRATION APPEALS ) MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, ) OPINION Respondent. ) ) Before: COOK, GRIFFIN, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges. NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Basam Petros asks us to review the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) ordering him removed to Iraq. Because the BIA’s decision is supported by substantial evidence and contains no legal error, we deny his petition. I. Basam Petros was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1972. He came to the United States as a refugee when he was nine years old and received lawful permanent resident status in 1983. But in 1994 he was convicted of second-degree murder in Michigan. So in June 1995 the Government served him with an order to show cause why he shouldn’t be deported based on that conviction. An immigration judge (“IJ”) entered an order of removal in 1997. Petros didn’t appeal; but he remained in the United States for twenty years with annual check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). That changed in 2017 when ICE arrested Petros and took him into custody. Case Nos. 21-3826 / 22-3731, Petros v. Garland Petros filed a motion to reopen his removal proceedings in 2017 and applied for deferral of removal under Article III of the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) based on his status as a Chaldean Catholic and changed country conditions in Iraq. Although an IJ initially denied his motion to reopen, the BIA reversed in 2018, explaining that Petros had made out a case for changed country conditions in Iraq—including “a prima facie showing that government-backed militia forces ha[d] engaged in abuses against Christians.” (A.R. 1726.) On remand before the IJ, Petros marshaled hundreds of pages of evidence of country conditions in Iraq in support of his application for deferral of removal under CAT. He included declarations from Belkis Wille, Daniel Smith, Dr. Kiminori Nakamura, Rebecca Heller, Nina Shea, Mark Lattimer, and Dr. Shamiran Mako. On the other hand, the Government submitted declarations from Dr. Douglas Ollivant, Dr. Michael Rubin, and Dr. Denise Natali. The IJ held a hearing with Petros alone testifying. Petros explained that because he left Iraq when he was so young and had not gone back since, he didn’t have any connections in Iraq. He said that he was Catholic and that he had a tattoo of Jesus Christ on his right shoulder that went down to his elbow. And he said his Arabic was “not that good”: he had “picked up little . . . pieces here, there” while in detention with other Iraqis and “in the neighborhood.” (A.R. 987, 989.) But he spoke Chaldean—used only by Christians—“[b]etter than Arabic.” (A.R. 989.) Petros explained that he would have “nowhere” to go if he were removed to Iraq and that airport …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals