Jarbough v. Atty Gen USA

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2007
Docket06-1081
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Jarbough v. Atty Gen USA, (3d Cir. 2007).

Opinion

Opinions of the United 2007 Decisions States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

4-11-2007

Jarbough v. Atty Gen USA Precedential or Non-Precedential: Precedential

Docket No. 06-1081

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Recommended Citation "Jarbough v. Atty Gen USA" (2007). 2007 Decisions. Paper 1165. http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2007/1165

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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT __________

No. 06-1081 __________

ADEL FADLALA JARBOUGH,

Petitioner,

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.

______________________

On Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A79 138 652) Immigration Judge: R.K. Malloy

Submitted pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) January 25, 2007

Before: SCIRICA, Chief Judge, FUENTES and CHAGARES, Circuit Judges.

(Filed: April 11, 2007)

Marc J. Reiter Suite 600 312 Boulevard of the Allies Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Counsel for Petitioner Adel Fadlala Jarbough Richard M. Evans Joan E. Smiley Genevieve Holm United States Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation P.O. Box 878 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044

Counsel for Respondent Attorney General of the United States

OPINION OF THE COURT

CHAGARES, Circuit Judge.

Adel Jarbough petitions for review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). As explained below, we lack jurisdiction to review Jarbough’s claim that extraordinary circumstances excused the late filing of his asylum application. In addition, substantial evidence supports the BIA’s denial of withholding of removal, and the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) rulings and conduct did not violate the Due Process Clause. Accordingly, we will dismiss the petition for review in part, and deny it in part.

I.

Mr. Jarbough is a native and citizen of Syria. In March 2001, he entered the United States as a non-immigrant authorized to remain until June of that year. Jarbough overstayed his visa, and in December 2002 he filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”).1 Jarbough claimed to have suffered persecution in Syria

1 United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10,

2 on account of his being a Druze,2 and on account of a pro-Israeli political opinion imputed to him by the Syrian government.

Jarbough conceded that he filed his asylum application more than one year after his arrival in the United States. However, he claimed that extraordinary circumstances excused the delay. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B), (D). Specifically, in May 2001, Jarbough consulted with an attorney (not counsel in the present appeal). Jarbough described his troubles in Syria, and the attorney opined that Jarbough had little hope of winning asylum. When the meeting ended, the men went their separate ways. Critically, though, the attorney neglected to mention the one-year deadline for filing an asylum application. According to Jarbough, this negligent omission was an extraordinary circumstance capable of tolling the one-year deadline.

As to the merits, Jarbough styled his application as a “mixed motives” case. See Singh v. Gonzales, 406 F.3d 191, 197 (3d Cir. 2005). He claimed that the Syrian government’s decision to persecute him resulted from a number of factors. First and foremost, he was a Druze. Jarbough claimed that the Syrian government has traditionally suspected the Druze of collaborating with the Israelis. Second, Jarbough had served in the Syrian military and worked as a civilian employee of the Ministry of Defense. Third, he had been in communication with his uncle, a resident of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. In early 2001, Jarbough’s uncle visited his family in Syria for the first time since the 1967 Six-Day War. Jarbough and his uncle subsequently spent two days together. This apparently raised the suspicions of the Syrian intelligence authorities. Jarbough claimed that these authorities believed he was an Israeli spy and, for that, they

1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85, implemented in the United States by the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-277, § 2242, 112 Stat. 2681-761 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1231). 2 The Druze religion grew out of Shia Islam and was founded in the eleventh century. Its adherents are primarily concentrated in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. See generally Salman Falah, The Druze in the Middle East 1-4 (2002).

3 persecuted him.

A few weeks after the visit from Jarbough’s uncle, Syrian intelligence officers seized Jarbough from his home and took him to their facility. The officers placed Jarbough in an interrogation room that contained wires and electrical cables. They told Jarbough, “[I]f you don’t tell the truth . . . you will have [the] feel of it.” Appendix (“App.”) 192. Although the officers did not use the electrical devices, they repeatedly screamed at Jarbough and jabbed their fingers and fists into his shoulder. After four hours of interrogation, they released him.

Ten days later, the authorities seized Jarbough again. This time he remained in their custody for two days. Once again, the officers cursed and screamed, yelling, “You are a spy, all of you are.” App. 210. In the interrogation room, Jarbough saw electric- shock machines that looked similar to torture devices he had seen on television. The officers did not use the devices, but they did administer a series of kicks, shoves, and pushes. After two days, the officers released Jarbough and told him to remain in his house. Jarbough had some bruises, but he did not go to a doctor because his injuries “did not really require immediate medical intervention.” App. 258. Shortly thereafter, he left for the United States.

Jarbough recounted these tribulations at an August 2004 hearing before an IJ. At the beginning of the hearing, Jarbough’s attorney asked for a continuance. He wanted a delay to secure the expert testimony of Professor Joshua Landis, a scholar well-versed in the historical plight of the Syrian Druze. The IJ responded that she was “finishing th[e] case today.” App. 137. Her next available hearing date was in April 2005, and she viewed an eight-month delay as unacceptable. Rebuffed, Jarbough’s attorney instead submitted an article by Professor Landis. See Joshua Landis, Shishakli and the Druzes: Integration and Intransigence, in The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation 369 (T. Philipp & B. Schaebler eds., 1998), reprinted in App. 515-37. The IJ stated that she would “certainly take note of th[e] article.” App. 142.

Jarbough’s attorney also sought to introduce the testimony

4 of Norris El-Attrache. Like Jarbough, El-Attrache is a Syrian Druze. He was prepared to describe the Syrian government’s persecution of his family.

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