Filed: Jun. 25, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-3159 _ ABDUVAKHOB ABDUKAKHAROVICH ALIMBAEV, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A079-729-904) Immigration Judge: Charles M. Honeyman _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) June 3, 2019 Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, JORDAN, and MATEY, Circuit Judges. (Filed June 25, 2019) _ OPINION _ This di
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-3159 _ ABDUVAKHOB ABDUKAKHAROVICH ALIMBAEV, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A079-729-904) Immigration Judge: Charles M. Honeyman _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) June 3, 2019 Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, JORDAN, and MATEY, Circuit Judges. (Filed June 25, 2019) _ OPINION _ This dis..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
_____________
No. 18-3159
_____________
ABDUVAKHOB ABDUKAKHAROVICH ALIMBAEV,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent
_______________
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
(Agency No. A079-729-904)
Immigration Judge: Charles M. Honeyman
_______________
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
June 3, 2019
Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, JORDAN, and MATEY, Circuit Judges.
(Filed June 25, 2019)
_______________
OPINION
_______________
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and, under I.O.P. 5.7, does not
constitute binding precedent.
MATEY, Circuit Judge.
Abduvakhob Alimbaev seeks review of the decision of the Board of Immigration
Appeals (“BIA”) denying his application for lawful permanent residency. Exercising
limited review, and identifying no error of law, we will dismiss his petition.
I.
Alimbaev’s case is before us for a third time with a correspondingly long history.
See Alimbaev v. Att’y Gen.,
872 F.3d 188 (3d. Cir. 2017) (“Alimbaev I”).1 Alimbaev I
outlined the facts and we incorporate that background here.
Id. at 190–94. In that
decision, we concluded that the BIA had misapplied the standard of review applicable to
the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) credibility determinations. We explained that Alimbaev’s
credibility is important on at least two issues: first, whether he viewed terroristic videos;
and second, whether he and his family are likely to face hardship if he is forced to leave
the United States. So, we held, “[o]n remand, the BIA must reconsider those factors with
due deference to the IJ’s factfinding before weighing the various positive and negative
factors to make its ultimate discretionary decision on adjustment of status.”
Id. at 201.
On remand, the BIA affirmed the IJ’s grant of withholding of removal and
protection under the Convention against Torture (“CAT”). This time, the BIA explained
that, even crediting the IJ’s findings of fact, Alimbaev still didn’t carry his burden of
establishing that he warranted an adjustment of status. It did give “reduced weight” to
1
We remanded Alimbaev’s first appeal on the Government’s unopposed motion.
Alimbaev v. Attorney Gen.,
872 F.3d 188, 193 (3d Cir. 2017). Because the Court did not
issue an opinion in that appeal, we refer to our opinion in Alimbaev’s later appeal as
Alimbaev I.
2
any hardship from Alimbaev’s possible separation from his wife because they married
“more than 3 years after he was placed into removal proceedings,” so “the potential for
separation was known prior to the marriage.” (App. 7). And the BIA discounted the
hardship accompanying a return to Uzbekistan, because “the grant of withholding of
removal and protection under the [CAT]” means he “is not in danger of being removed to
Uzbekistan.”
Id.
In addition, while it accepted the IJ’s finding that Alimbaev “lacked actual
knowledge of the inaccuracies in his immigration applications,” the BIA still considered
“the submission of inaccurate applications to be an adverse discretionary factor.”
Id. The
BIA also noted that the IJ “found that the circumstances surrounding [Alimbaev’s]
admission into the United States [were] a negative factor.”
Id. Balancing these equities
against the possibility of family separation and the resulting emotional and financial
hardships, the BIA declined to adjust Alimbaev’s status.
Id. at 8. Alimbaev again timely
petitioned for review.
II.
When the BIA issues its own opinion, we review that decision, not the IJ’s.
Cadapan v. Att’y Gen.,
749 F.3d 157, 159 (3d Cir. 2014). We review the BIA’s legal
determinations de novo, including whether it properly applied clear error review to the
IJ’s findings of fact. Mendoza-Ordonez v. Att’y Gen.,
869 F.3d 164, 169 (3d Cir. 2017).
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A. Jurisdiction
We have jurisdiction over final removal orders of the BIA subject to the
limitations established in 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a).2 Review of “constitutional claims or
questions of law” is permitted; reexamination of the evidence is not.
Id. § 1252(a)(2)(D);
Jarbough v. Att’y Gen.,
483 F.3d 184, 189 (3d Cir. 2007). The Government argues that
we lack jurisdiction because Alimbaev only challenges the BIA’s decision on his status,
and we agree. As noted in Alimbaev I, “we lack jurisdiction to review the BIA’s
discretionary decision whether to grant Alimbaev’s adjustment application and the
balancing of the positive and negative factors that underlie
it.” 872 F.3d at 200. Attaching
a legal label to a factual claim “will not confer us with jurisdiction.”
Jarbough, 483 F.3d
at 189. Each of Alimbaev’s arguments do just that.
B. Alimbaev’s Claims
First, Alimbaev argues the BIA has tipped the scale against him by failing to
consider favorable facts cited in prior stages of this case. He notes that, this time, the BIA
failed to mention explicitly his strong ties to the United States, his payment of taxes, his
property ownership, and the hardship his removal would cause his extended family. True
enough, but the BIA’s precedents establish only that adjudicating a petition for
adjustment of status is a case-by-case process, “requir[ing] consideration of all the facts
2
We have jurisdiction despite the BIA’s remand of Alimbaev’s petition to the IJ
for background checks. Although remand to an administrative agency is not ordinarily a
final order permitting appellate jurisdiction, “an order is final for jurisdictional purposes
when a removability determination has been made that is no longer appealable to the
BIA.” Yusupov v. Att’y Gen.,
518 F.3d 185, 195–96 (3d Cir. 2008). That is the case here.
4
and circumstances involved.” Matter of Edwards, 20 I. & N. Dec. 191, 195 (B.I.A. 1990).
This requires balancing, not exhaustive recitation. See
id. The BIA’s decision here
satisfies those requirements, and neither we nor Alimbaev are aware of authority
specifically requiring the BIA to list every factor relevant to its decisionmaking. So
Alimbaev’s first challenge has no basis in the law.
Second, Alimbaev disagrees with the weight the BIA assigned to the potential
hardship to him and his family. None dispute that Alimbaev remarried after removal
proceedings started. But Alimbaev sees colorable error in the BIA’s decision to grant less
weight to the hardship suffered by his wife because she knew removal was possible when
they married. Similarly, he argues that merely being subject to a removal order creates an
untenable risk of actual removal to a country within the reach of the Uzbek government,
and thus the risk of arrest and torture. Both arguments are not challenges under the law;
they ask us to re-weigh the hardship Alimbaev and his family might suffer if he is
removed. As explained in Alimbaev I, “the BIA is entitled to assign the weight it sees fit
to adjustment factors like a petitioner’s familial status, and its subsequent balancing of
those factors is beyond the purview of our jurisdiction to
consider.” 872 F.3d at 200,
n.10.
Finally, Alimbaev objects to the BIA’s references to inaccuracies in his prior
applications for adjustment, noting that the IJ concluded that he was unaware of the
errors. We addressed this claim in Alimbaev I, where we recited the IJ’s finding that the
circumstances surrounding his applications were “disturbing and negative, but not
sufficient to cumulatively outweigh the positive equities in this case.”
Id. at 200, n.10.
5
While the BIA needed to defer to the factual findings of the IJ, it acted “well within its
rights” when it “assigned greater significance to the inaccurate immigration applications
when adjudicating Alimbaev’s application for adjustment of status than did the IJ.”
Id. As
before, we see no colorable claim sufficient to invoke our jurisdiction.
III.
For these reasons, we will dismiss the petition for review.
6