News

Case Summaries

Immigration Law

[11/19] Ahmed v. Mukasey
Petition for review of the BIA's denial of petitioner's motion to reopen on the basis that she lacked the effective assistance of counsel is granted, and case remanded, where the BIA erred in determining that petitioner suffered no prejudice as a result of her counsel's ineffectiveness.

[11/19] Hakopian v. Mukasey
Petition for review of denial of claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture is denied where: 1) the IJ erred by finding that petitioner's asylum application was time-barred; but 2) the petition was denied on other grounds set forth in a separate memorandum disposition.

[11/19] Sow v. Mukasey
Petition for review of denial of applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture is denied where: 1) substantial evidence supported the adverse credibility findings of the IJ; and 2) petitioner did not produce evidence that he was likely to face persecution upon his return to Mauritania.

[11/19] Budiono v. Mukasey
Petition for review of denial of application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture is denied where: 1) Board of Immigration Appeals can adopt part of the Immigration Judge's decision and add its own analysis; 2) substantial evidence supported the determination that the harms Christian, ethnic Chinese-petitioner suffered in Indonesia did not constitute persecution; and 3) substantial evidence supported the IJ's and BIA's determination that petitioner failed to establish a well-founded fear of future persecution in light of the fact that her family continues to live in relative safety in Indonesia.

[11/19] Diallo v. US Dept. of Justice
Petition for review of decision denying native citizen of Guinea asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), is granted where: 1) given the presence of errors in the Board of Immigration Appeals' decision as to issues that were properly exhausted and the plausibility of other newly claimed errors, remand to the BIA would not have been futile; and 2) there were sufficient exhausted flaws in the reasoning of the Immigration Judge's adverse credibility determination to warrant a remand, and the court could not confidently predict the same outcome if there were further agency reconsideration.

[11/18] Khunaverdiants v. Mukasey
Petition for review of the denial of an asylum application as time-barred is granted, and denial reversed, where: 1) appellate jurisdiction existed to review the BIA's determination that petitioner failed to establish a timely filing of his application, because it involved a question of law; and 2) the BIA erred in concluding that proof of an exact departure date was necessary when other clear and convincing evidence established that petitioner necessarily filed his asylum application less than one year after arriving in the United States.

More...