By: Carson Smith
Last Wednesday, the Fourth Circuit denied two separate petitions for review of removal orders, each of which addressed the question of whether an individual qualifies as a lawful permanent resident in the United States. In Chavez v. Holder, the Court upheld the Board of Immigration’s (BIA) decision to remove the plaintiff, a permanent resident, from the United States because of a larceny conviction. Full details of the Court’s decision can be found here. In Zoubairi v. Holder, the Court upheld the BIA’s ruling that Plaintiff, Khalil Zoubairi, did not qualify for lawful permanent residency (LPR) because the marriage from which LPR status could have arisen was not entered into in good faith. Consequentially, Zoubairi and his two sons were ordered to be removed from the United States.
Zoubairi entered the United States in 1995 on a tourist visa. While Zoubairi overstayed the visa, no legal action was taken, and, in 2001, he married Joyce Clark, a United States citizen. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1186, an alien is conditionally granted LPR status upon marriage to a citizen. However, LPR status only applies for the course of the marriage. In 2004, the couple jointly filed a petition to remove the conditional element. In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that Zoubairi and Clark’s marriage was not entered into in good faith and that the conditional LPR status should be removed.
Zoubairi and Clark divorced in 2005. In 2008, Zoubairi withdrew the jointly-filed petition and, in its place, applied for a waiver of the joint-filing requirement pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1186(a)(C)(4). This section of the statute allows for the extension of full LPR status to aliens who (1) have alien children, (2) were previously married to a United States citizen, and (3) would undergo extreme hardship if removed from the country. The DHS denied the application and filed for removal proceedings in immigration court.
In 2012, the immigration court judge ordered Zoubairi and his two sons to be removed from the United States, finding that the marriage between Zoubairi and Clark was not entered into in good faith. The BIA dismissed Zoubairi’s appeal on the basis that the immigration judge had made no clear error in his ruling. A timely appeal to the Fourth Circuit followed.
In determining whether a marriage is entered into in good faith, the Court asked “whether [the couple] intended to establish a life together at the time they were married.” To answer this question, the Court looked to (1) the assets and liabilities of the parties; (2) the length of cohabitation during the marriage; and (3) birth certificates of any children born during the marriage. After laying out the standard and pertinent factors, the Fourth Circuit “conclude[d] that the evidence in the record clearly and overwhelmingly support[ed] [BIA’s] determination that Zoubairi did not intend to establish a marital life with Clark at the time he entered into the marriage.” It can be inferred that the Court found persuasive the numerous inconsistencies between the testimony of Zoubairi and Clark regarding their marriage. Accordingly, the Court upheld the denial of Zoubairi’s petition for removal.
