NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 20a0623n.06 No. 19-3128 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT BASIM ABDOULZAHRA AL-SAEDI, ) FILED ) Nov 04, 2020 Petitioner, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) v. ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) FROM THE UNITED STATES WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION ) APPEALS Respondent. ) ) Before: MOORE, McKEAGUE, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges. LARSEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which McKEAGUE, J., joined, and MOORE, J., joined in the result. LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Facing removal from the country, Basim Al-Saedi applied for protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). But an immigration judge (IJ) found Al- Saedi not credible, which was reason alone to deny his application. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed Al-Saedi’s appeal from the IJ’s decision, concluding that Al-Saedi had waived any challenge to the adverse credibility determination and that, in any event, the IJ’s adverse credibility determination was not clearly erroneous. Before this court, Al-Saedi makes no challenge to the adverse credibility determination, even though this determination constitutes a dispositive reason for denying his application. For the reasons stated, we DENY Al-Saedi’s petition for review. No. 19-3128, Al-Saedi v. Barr I. Al-Saedi is a native and citizen of Iraq. He arrived in the United States in October 1996 and was granted asylum in March 1997. In 2007, Al-Saedi was convicted in Michigan state court as an accessory after the fact to murder. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice to Appear, stating that Al-Saedi was subject to removal pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I), as an alien who had been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, and 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I), as an alien who applied for admission without valid entry documents. Al-Saedi conceded the first ground for removability but disputed the second. He also sought relief from removal. In March 2014, the IJ found Al-Saedi removable on both grounds, terminated Al-Saedi’s asylum status, denied his request for relief from removal, and ordered him removed to Iraq. Al-Saedi was not removed from the country. And in February 2018, he moved to reopen his case before the IJ, requesting deferral of removal under the CAT and arguing that changed country conditions made it more likely than not that he would be tortured upon his return to Iraq. The IJ granted Al-Saedi’s motion to reopen. After a hearing, however, the IJ denied Al-Saedi’s request for CAT protection. Due to multiple discrepancies between Al-Saedi’s testimony before the IJ and his current and original applications for relief, the IJ found Al-Saedi not credible and noted that Al-Saedi’s application could be denied “on that basis alone.” The IJ also concluded that, even if Al-Saedi were deemed credible, he still could not show that it was more likely than not that he would be tortured on his return to Iraq. Al-Saedi appealed to the BIA, but the BIA dismissed his appeal. The BIA said that Al- Saedi had waived any challenge ...
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