NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 21a0335n.06 No. 20-4306 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED ) Jul 14, 2021 FRANCIS YEBOAH ADUSEI, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) FROM THE UNITED STATES ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, ) APPEALS ) Respondent. ) BEFORE: BATCHELDER, KETHLEDGE, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Francis Yeboah Adusei petitions for review of a judgment by the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal of the denial of his motion to continue removal proceedings. We DENY his petition. I. Background Adusei is a native and citizen of Ghana. He entered the United States legally in March 2002 as a nonimmigrant visitor but overstayed his sixth-month authorization. In 2004, he married a United States citizen. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) approved an I- 130 Petition filed by that woman on Adusei’s behalf, but later declined to adjust Adusei’s status after receiving evidence suggesting that the marriage might be fraudulent. The couple divorced in December 2006. Adusei received a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings on May 11, 2007. He admitted removability in 2010. No. 20-4306, Adusei v. Garland On July 12, 2007, Adusei married Sherry Singleton, a United States citizen. Singleton filed an I-130 Petition for Adusei in 2008. USCIS denied the Petition and the BIA affirmed denial in June 2011. Adusei then began the process of applying for asylum, withholding of removal, Convention Against Torture protection, and, alternatively, voluntary departure. He withdrew these applications on the day of his March 2014 removal hearing, noting that Singleton had filed another I-130 on his behalf. The Immigration Judge granted an uncontested continuance to allow adjudication of the second I-130. USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (“NOID”) the second I-130 Petition on December 21, 2015, stating that the evidence presented by Adusei and Singleton did not overcome the presumption of fraudulent marriage placed upon couples married while the I-130 beneficiary spouse is in removal proceedings. In January 2016, Adusei appeared again before an Immigration Judge, who reset his appearance until after Singleton’s response to the NOID was due. Singleton responded to the NOID, and USCIS formally denied the Petition on January 27, 2016. Singleton timely appealed in March 2016. Adusei received another uncontested continuance on April 13, 2016. Adusei next appeared in court on October 10, 2018, despite his counsel’s moving to continue the hearing because Singleton’s I-130 appeal was still pending. At this point, Adusei had only one plausible form of relief pending: a potential status adjustment if the BIA reversed the USCIS’s denial of Singleton’s I-130 Petition. The government, for the first time, opposed continuing the case or granting a requested hearing on the potential that Singleton’s I-130 Petition would be granted. The Immigration Judge agreed and denied the motion to continue. Because Adusei had previously abandoned his requests for other forms of relief, the Immigration Judge ordered him removed. -2- …
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