Mohammed Tajudeen v. Attorney General United States


NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 17-1796 ___________ MOHAMMED TAJUDEEN, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent ____________________________________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A208-923-515) Immigration Judge: Honorable Leo A. Finston ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) October 20, 2017 Before: JORDAN, RESTREPO, and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: October 20, 2017) ___________ OPINION* ___________ PER CURIAM * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Mohammed Tajudeen has petitioned us to review a final order of removal. We will dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction. Tajudeen, a native and citizen of Ghana, applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection pursuant to the Convention Against Torture. Tajudeen feared returning to Ghana because his Muslim religion prohibited homosexuality. He stated in his application that he had been assaulted at his home because of his sexual orientation, and that after the assault the local police advised him to move to a different community for his safety. Tajudeen also included reports concerning human rights violations against homosexuals in Ghana. On August 1, 2016, the Immigration Judge denied Tajudeen’s applications and ordered him removed to Ghana. Tajudeen waived appeal of the IJ’s order, and no documentation of any appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals appears in the record. The record shows, however, that sometime after he was ordered removed, Tajudeen attempted to make some kind of filing before the immigration court in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A September 8, 2016 notice of rejected filing appears in the record, and that notice stated that Tajudeen needed to file his submission with the Board, not the immigration court. The record does not show, and Tajudeen does not state, whether that rejected filing had been intended to appeal the IJ’s removal order. On March 31, 2017, Tajudeen initiated review proceedings in this Court and sought a stay of removal. In part, Tajudeen asserted that he had appealed to the Board on or about August 20, 2016, and that the Board had denied his appeal. Tajudeen also filed 2 a motion to remand. In that motion, he argued that his immigration proceedings should be reopened because he “left out important facts” concerning his claim that he was targeted in Ghana on the basis of his sexual orientation, and because he had obtained additional evidence about human rights conditions in Ghana that he had not previously presented. Tajudeen provides little detail about what comprises the evidence that he now says is newly available. For its part, the government filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that we lack jurisdiction to consider the petition for review because Tajudeen did not exhaust his administrative remedies or timely appeal the removal order. After we denied Tajudeen’s motion for a stay of removal, the case proceeded to briefing on the petition for review. Tajudeen’s informal brief asserts that ...

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