Khano v. I.N.S., No. 92-3316

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before BAUER, Chief Judge, COFFEY, Circuit Judge, and EISELE; BAUER
• Citation: 999 F.2d 1203
• Parties: William KHANO, Petitioner, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent.
• Docket Number: No. 92-3316
• Decision Date: 04 August 1993

Page 1203

999 F.2d 1203 William KHANO, Petitioner,
v.
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent. No. 92-3316. United States Court of Appeals,
Seventh Circuit. Argued April 28, 1993.
Decided Aug. 4, 1993.

Page 1204

Mark J. Thomas (argued), Chicago, IL, for petitioner.

Fred Foreman, U.S. Atty., Crim. Div., Chicago, IL, William J. Howard, Mark C. Walters, David J. Kline, Lisa Dornell, Dept. of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, A.D. Moyer, Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, I.N.S., Chicago, IL, Marshall T. Golding (argued), Civ. Div., Washington, DC, for respondent.

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Before BAUER, Chief Judge, COFFEY, Circuit Judge, and EISELE, Senior District Judge. ¹

BAUER, Chief Judge.

This case involves two promises--one broken, one kept. William Khano, a native and citizen of Syria, promised the United States government that, if allowed into this country, he would enroll in a university as a full-time student and would remain a full-time student. The government--acting through the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS")--admitted Khano into the United States, but promised to deport him if he broke his promise. Khano broke his promise. The INS kept its promise. It instituted deportation proceedings against Khano.

After a hearing on the matter, an immigration judge found Khano deportable pursuant to section 241(a)(9) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("the Act"), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(9). The immigration judge also denied Khano's application for asylum and withholding of deportation under sections 208(a) and 243(h) of the Act, respectively, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(a) and 1253(h). The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") affirmed the immigration judge's decision and dismissed Khano's appeal. Khano petitions for review of the BIA's final order of deportation. We affirm.

I.

William Khano entered the United States as a student in Chicago, Illinois on February 1, 1982. Administrative Record ("A.R.") at 142. Originally, the INS authorized Khano to remain in the United States until December 30, 1986. On June 12, 1984, the INS extended Khano's authorized stay for as long as he maintained his student status. The INS charged that in April 1986, Khano became deportable because he stopped attending classes until September 1986. The INS also accused Khano of further violating his status because, after his re-enrollment in September 1986, he did not attend school on a full-time basis. Id.

On September 30, 1987, the immigration judge conducted Khano's deportation hearing and considered Khano's request for asylum, withholding of deportation, and voluntary departure. Khano testified that he graduated from Wilbur Wright College after two years, then transferred to the University of Illinois at Chicago ("UIC"). Id. at 34, 51. At UIC, he initially enrolled full-time, but because of his marriage and "other responsibilities," he stopped attending full-time. Id. at 34-5, 47, 49-50, 53. Between January and September 1986, he carried only nine credit hours per semester. Id. Khano admitted that a full-time course of study at UIC was twelve credit hours. Id. at 49. At the time of the hearing, he was not attending classes at all. Id. at 38. UIC decided not to allow Khano to continue, apparently because Khano received poor grades, which he described as a "F" in chemistry and a "D" in math. Id. at 35, 62. The immigration judge found that the government established its case for deportability by clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence because Khano testified that he did not carry a full course of studies. Id. at 14.

In addition to evidence which related to his student status, Khano presented evidence to support his three applications for discretionary relief: (1) asylum, (2) withholding of deportation to Syria, and (3) the privilege of voluntary departure from the United States in lieu of deportation. Id. at 67.

To support his asylum application, Khano testified that he is an Assyrian Christian. The majority of Syrian citizens are Arab Muslims. Id. at 68. Khano alleges that as a religious and ethnic minority group, Assyrian Christians are subject to discrimination. He also stated that he had been a member of the Assyrian Democratic Party for about seven years. Id. Khano asserted that the Assyrian Democratic Party was not legally authorized though, by his description, it was merely a social group dedicated to the preservation of Assyrian culture and customs. Id. at 69. He admitted, however, that the Syrian government has not officially outlawed the Assyrian Democratic Party and that the government

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allows it to publish a magazine and write about minorities. Id. at 108.

Khano also stated that he was once arrested. Id. at 69. He said that in 1981, the wife of the head of the Syrian secret police accused him of throwing a stone at her. Id. at 70, 98. Khano claimed that the head of the secret police and two other men slapped him and took him to their headquarters. Id. at 71. He stated that they held him for three hours, then released him. After the arrest, Khano left Syria and travelled to Lebanon to escape what he described as Syrian persecution. Id. at 71-72. He stayed in Lebanon for a year then returned to Syria, obtained a passport, and came to the United States. Id. at 98, 100.

Khano claimed that after he arrived in the United States, a visiting relative told him that the Syrian secret police had detained thirty-two unnamed Assyrians, including two of Khano's relatives. The secret police allegedly beat and tortured these thirty-two Assyrians for fifteen days. Id. at 74. This visiting relative, according to Khano, said that the Syrian secret police had a list of 300 Assyrians that were to be detained, including, possibly, Khano himself. Id. at 75. The relative allegedly added that the secret police visited Khano's Syrian home many times and asked for Khano. Id.

Khano also testified that his family has been harassed by the Syrian government. Specifically, he claimed that one of his brothers--a member of the Syrian military--was shot in the back in 1979 for refusing to execute members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Id. at 84-85. Khano said that another brother was shot for political activities against the government. Id. A third brother allegedly left Syria for Lebanon because he feared that his political activities with the Assyrian Democratic Party would cause him trouble. Id. at 86. Finally, Khano added that he believes there is no freedom of religion in Syria and that Christians like himself are vulnerable to discrimination in school and to harassment in public. Id. at 114. For these reasons, Khano said that he fears that the secret police will arrest him if he returns to Syria and that all members of the Assyrian Democratic Party are in danger. Id. at 75-76.

Pursuant to 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.11 and 236.3(b), the United States State Department rendered an opinion that suggested that Khano's fears were exaggerated. The State Department's opinion stated that Syrian Christians--like Khano--are permitted to practice their faith and are not subject to official persecution or discrimination. Id. at 124. The opinion noted that conditions for religious minorities had improved substantially over the past few years and that the Syrian government had intervened several times in the prior year to prevent...