Hussain v. Gonzales
| Decision Date | 20 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-3068.,No. 04-1865.,04-1865.,04-3068. |
| Parties | Imran Sajid HUSSAIN, Petitioner, v. Alberto R. GONZALES,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Christopher W. Helt (argued), Helt & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Petitioner.
George P. Katsivalis, Department of Homeland Security, Office of the District Counsel, Chicago, IL, Michele Y.F. Sarko, Alison R. Drucker (argued), Victor M. Lawrence, Department of Justice Civil Division, Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
Before ROVNER, WILLIAMS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
Imran Hussain, a native of Pakistan, arrived in the United States in August 2001. Shortly thereafter, the Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated removal proceedings. Hussain then petitioned for asylum and other relief, alleging a fear of persecution on account of his religion, membership in a particular social group, and political opinion. After finding Hussain's testimony not credible and unsupported by corroborating documentation, the immigration judge denied Hussain's application. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the immigration judge's decision, and Hussain petitioned this court for review. We find that Hussain's due process rights were not violated when the immigration judge denied his motion for an extension of time to submit supplemental documentation because he has not shown he was prejudiced by the immigration judge's deadline for document submission. In addition, we conclude that the denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal is supported by substantial evidence. Therefore, we deny the petition for review.
Imran Hussain entered the United States in August 2001 without being admitted or paroled, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Shortly thereafter, Hussain was charged with removability pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1). Hussain conceded he was removable but filed a petition for asylum and withholding of removal.
At a preliminary hearing on June 21, 2002, the immigration judge scheduled the merits hearing for December 16, 2002. The immigration judge informed Hussain's counsel that he required any supplements to the record to be filed sixty days before the hearing date, i.e., by October 16, 2002. On October 18, 2002, Hussain's counsel moved for an extension of time to file supplemental materials, contending that he was waiting to receive documents from Pakistan. The immigration judge denied this request.
At his asylum hearing, Hussain testified that he grew up in Lahore, a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. He stated that after completing the tenth grade, he attended college (according to Hussain, the equivalent of grades eleven and twelve in the United States) in Lahore, where he became active in the Shia Muslim religion. There, he began his involvement with the Tehrik-E-Jafria of Pakistan (TJP), a Shia group. He testified that he, his father and grandfather were all active members of the TJP.
Hussain testified that although he was a Shia Muslim, the majority of Muslims in Pakistan are Sunni Muslim. In 1993, while sitting with Shia friends at his college, Hussain recounted that Sunni Muslims confronted him about preaching his religion at the college, warning him to stop preaching or threatening that it would cost him his life. After learning about this incident, his parents sent him to Karachi, Pakistan for two months, where he learned more about his religion.
When he returned to Lahore in 1994, he began preaching quietly. In the spring of that year, Hussain said he participated in a rally to commemorate Pakistani Shia martyrs. He explained that every year, clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims occur at the event. That year, he said, he fell, causing his head to bleed, and he was taken to a police station where he spent one night before his parents came to release him. Although he did not speak with any Sunnis at the rally, he said that he recognized several of them and Sunnis later told him they had observed his presence at the rally.
Hussain testified that Sunnis confronted him again in the fall of 1995 when he organized a seminar to share his religious beliefs with fellow students at Punjab University. He stated that organizers had distributed flyers before the event listing him as the speaker, and about forty or fifty people were present on the day of the event. Before he could speak, however, he testified that at least thirty other Sunni students surrounded the hall where he was to speak. According to Hussain, they also sealed the parking lot and university entrances so no one could leave. He testified that after three or four hours, the Sunni students fired a shot in the air and allowed the participants to leave. Hussain testified that he reported the incident to the police and his principal, but they took no action.
The following fall, Hussain testified that six people approached him in his university cafeteria, said they needed to talk to him, displayed weapons, and forced Hussain and two friends to go with them to the university's hostel. There, he testified that the captors tied Hussain and his friends to chairs and taped their mouths, and a captor drilled one friend's knee with an electrical drill. Hussain stated that another assailant then pulled a gun and pointed it at Hussain's head, then at his knee. Right then, he said, help arrived. According to Hussain, one of the captors yelled, "Police have raided the campus," and the captors left. Although Hussain had testified that police could not normally enter the school premises, he explained that others in the cafeteria may have seen the incident and notified the principal, and the principal may have then used his power to bring the police into the school. He also explained that the eight to ten police officers entered the building in civilian clothes.
Hussain also testified that he was an active member of the TJP from 1997 to 2000. He stated that during those years, he gave speeches before crowds of fifty to one hundred people. In December 2000, he testified that Punjab University invited him to give a speech at a seminar organized by Shia students and printed flyers and invitations with his name. While speaking, Hussain testified that Sunni members of the Sipah-E-Sihaba of Pakistan (SSP) whom Hussain recognized from earlier rallies entered the conference hall with guns and began tearing down the flyers. Hussain testified that he started to escape but while doing so, was shot in both legs. He still managed to leave the campus and to flag down a car before passing out. He testified that he woke up in a hospital, reported the incident to police, and the police did nothing. He stated that after the incident, TJP members warned him to be careful.
Hussain also testified that after this incident, his parents visited him in the hospital and told him they had learned from their neighbors that a van full of people had approached Hussain's house, shouting and shooting guns. Afraid to return home, and advised by the TJP to leave town, Hussain testified that he headed from the hospital to Karachi, a trip that takes approximately twenty-five hours by car. A few months later, Hussain testified that while on a motorcycle with a friend, they noticed a van following them. He stated that the van cornered he and his friend in an alley, and eight or nine people opened the van doors armed with machine guns. Hussain stated that he recognized the van occupants as the same persons who had confronted him at his university and at rallies. Hussain testified that he and his friend barely managed to escape. After this incident, he testified that the TJP arranged for him to leave the country by paying a smuggler $18,000.
Hussain testified that if he returned to Pakistan, he believed he would be tortured and killed. He testified that his uncle, a prominent Shia Muslim, had been abducted and beaten by members of a militant Sunni group. When asked whether he could move to a different part of Pakistan, Hussain answered that he could not do so because his enemies had found him when he had tried before to get away from Lahore.
The immigration judge, finding Hussain's testimony not credible and unsupported by corroborating documentation, denied his request for relief. In addition, the immigration judge stated that even if he accepted Hussain's testimony as true, he had not established eligibility for asylum or withholding of removal. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the immigration judge's decision, and Hussain now petitions this court for review.
Hussain raises three issues on appeal. First, he contends that his due process rights were violated when the immigration judge denied his motion to submit additional documentation in support of his claim. Next, he challenges the immigration judge's adverse credibility finding, contending it was not supported by the evidence. Finally, Hussain maintains that he should receive relief under the Convention Against Torture. Where, as here, the Board of Immigration Appeals affirms an immigration judge's order without a separate opinion, the decision of the immigration judge constitutes the "final agency determination" for purposes of our review. Rashiah v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 1126, 1131 (7th Cir.2004).
Hussain first contends he was denied due process when the immigration judge denied his motion for an extension of time to file supplemental materials that he was awaiting from Pakistan. The local operating instructions of the Chicago Immigration Court state that additional documentation must be submitted no later than ten days before the hearing. The immigration judge, however, imposed a sixty day before hearing cutoff, and Hussain contends the immigration judge's imposition of a more stringent deadline than that set by the local operating instructions violated his right...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sankoh v. Mukasey
...these latter two showings are more difficult than proving that one is a "refugee." See Zeqiri, 529 F.3d at 371; Hussain v. Gonzales, 424 F.3d 622, 630 (7th Cir.2005). As a result, a failed asylum claim — more specifically, a finding that an alien does not have a "well-founded fear of future......
-
Giday v. Gonzales
...order, the decision of the immigration judge constitutes the final agency determination for purposes of our review. Hussain v. Gonzales, 424 F.3d 622, 626 (7th Cir.2005). In this case the BIA both affirmed and adopted the decision of the immigration judge and appended to that determination ......
-
Yuan Gao v. Mukasey
...deemed waived" (emphasis added). In other words, the immigration judge may extend the deadlines that he sets, as in Hussain v. Gonzales, 424 F.3d 622, 626 (7th Cir.2005), and Singh v. Gonzales, 495 F.3d 553, 559 n. 2 (8th Cir.2007). We have found no case that suggests that this provision au......
-
Margos v. Gonzales
...a "clear probability" of persecution, the standard for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3). See Hussain v. Gonzales, 424 F.3d 622, 630 (7th Cir.2005); Prela, 394 F.3d at Finally, before this court, Margos seeks relief under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). See 8 C.F.R.......
-
From a Dream to Reality Check: Protecting the Rights of Tomorrow's Conditional Legal Resident Enlistees
...247 Ramos v. Gonzales, 414 F.3d 800 (7th Cir. 2005); Mohamed v. TeBrake, 371 F. Supp. 2d 1043 (D. Minn. 2005). 248 Hussain v. Gonzales, 424 F.3d 622 (7th Cir. 2005). 249 Id. 250 Leslie v. Attorney Gen. of U.S., 611 F.3d 171 (3d Cir. 2010); United States v. Jauregui, 314 F.3d 961, 962–63 (8t......