Hassan v. Chertoff

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 10, 2008
Docket06-17252
StatusPublished

This text of Hassan v. Chertoff (Hassan v. Chertoff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hassan v. Chertoff, (9th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

NADEEM HASSAN,  Plaintiff-Appellant, v. No. 06-17252 MICHAEL CHERTOFF, Secretary of D.C. No. Department of Homeland Security;  CV-04-02251-PHX- AL GALLMANN, Acting District FJM Director, Phoenix District Office, OPINION Citizenship and Immigration Service, Defendants-Appellees.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Frederick J. Martone, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted June 13, 2008—San Francisco, California

Filed September 11, 2008

Before: Mary M. Schroeder, John M. Walker, Jr.,* and N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges.

Per Curiam Opinion

*The Honorable John M. Walker, Jr., Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, sitting by designation.

12719 HASSAN v. CHERTOFF 12721

COUNSEL

Eric G. Bjotvedt, Esq., Phoenix, Arizona, for plaintiff/ appellant, Nadeem Hassan.

Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., Esq. USDOJ, Washington, D.C., for defendants/appellees, Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Home- land Security et al. 12722 HASSAN v. CHERTOFF OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Nadeem Hassan, a citizen of Pakistan, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his complaint seeking mandamus relief and challenging the government’s denial of his application for adjustment of status and cancellation of his permission to return to this country. We lack jurisdiction to review the gov- ernment’s actions and affirm the district court’s dismissal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i)-(ii).

Background

In January 2002, while physically present in the United States, Hassan applied for adjustment of status to lawful per- manent resident pursuant to section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a). In October 2004, the government had not yet acted on his application, so he filed this mandamus action in the United States District Court to compel the government to act on the application. In 2005, the government questioned him about possible ties to a group the government suspected of having links to terrorists.

While his adjustment application was still pending, Hassan traveled outside the United States to Saudi Arabia. He received a travel document from the government, Form I-512, commonly referred to as an “advance parole.” It granted him permission to return to the United States, so long as his appli- cation for adjustment remained pending. While Hassan was abroad, the government denied his adjustment application and revoked the advance parole. When he attempted to return to the United States, he was denied admission, placed in expe- dited removal proceedings, and removed. He then amended his complaint in this action to challenge the denial of status adjustment and revocation of advance parole.

The district court held that under the REAL ID Act of 2005, 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B), both the denial of the adjust- HASSAN v. CHERTOFF 12723 ment of status and the revocation of the advance parole were discretionary decisions that the court lacked jurisdiction to review. The statute the court relied upon with respect to adjustment of status provides that “no court shall have juris- diction to review any judgment regarding the granting of relief under section . . . 1255 of this title . . . .” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). The statute the district court relied on to determine that it lacked jurisdiction to review the revocation of advance parole is 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), which pro- vides that “no court shall have jurisdiction to review any other decision . . . of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority for which is specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security . . . .”

Analysis

[1] Hassan argued to the district court that before the gov- ernment denied his application for adjustment of status, it should, under an applicable regulation, have given him an opportunity to respond to the reasons for the denial. See 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(16)(i). But, as the district court noted, judi- cial review of the denial of an adjustment of status application — a decision governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1255 — is expressly precluded by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). Furthermore, § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) precludes judicial review of “any other [discretionary] decision or action of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security.” Because the govern- ment denied Hassan’s application for adjustment, in part, as a matter of discretion, the district court lacked jurisdiction to review that claim. Cf. Hosseini v. Gonzales, 464 F.3d 1018, 1021 (9th Cir. 2006) (“We lack jurisdiction to review the BIA’s denial of Hosseini’s adjustment of status claim because the BIA alternatively denied relief as a matter of discretion.”).

[2] To the extent that Hassan argues that he is not appealing a discretionary decision to deny his application but is raising a constitutional claim or question of law as to whether the 12724 HASSAN v. CHERTOFF government violated their own regulation and Hassan’s due process rights, we reject that argument. Although 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D) preserves jurisdiction over “constitutional claims or questions of law raised upon a petition for review filed with an appropriate court of appeals in accordance with this section,” that provision is inapplicable here. Hassan’s challenge to the denial of adjustment was not raised upon a petition for review filed with this court; his case comes to us on direct appeal from the district court. We therefore conclude that the district court did not have jurisdiction to entertain Hassan’s challenge to the denial of adjustment of status.

The only remaining question pertains to the revocation of Hassan’s advance parole. The district court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the issue because the revocation of advance parole, like the grant of advance parole, is discretion- ary. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) (stating that the Attorney General may “in his discretion parole into the United States . . . any alien”); see also Samirah v. O’Connell, 335 F.3d 545, 548 (7th Cir. 2003) (“The Attorney General . . . has the dis- cretion to revoke advance parole after it has been granted.”).

[3] On appeal, Hassan argues that the district court had jurisdiction to review the revocation. He claims that the gov- ernment lacked any discretion to revoke his advance parole because no statute or regulation expressly authorizes revoca- tion. We disagree. The statutory and regulatory provisions governing the grant of parole provide for the revocation of parole when it no longer serves its purpose. See 8 U.S.C.

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