Agyei v. Holder , 729 F.3d 6 ( 2013 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 12-1517
AKWASI AGYEI,
Petitioner,
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE
BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS
Before
Howard, Circuit Judge,
Souter,* Associate Justice,
and Lipez, Circuit Judge.
Joanna M. Golding and Trupti N. Patel & Associates on brief
for petitioner.
Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil
Division, John S. Hogan, Senior Litigation Counsel, and Edward E.
Wiggers, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief
for respondent.
August 30, 2013
*
Hon. David H. Souter, Associate Justice (Ret.) of the
Supreme Court of the United States, sitting by designation.
LIPEZ, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Akwasi Agyei seeks
review of the agency's decision that he was ineligible for
adjustment of status and cancellation of removal, as well as the
denial of his motion to reconsider and reopen. The agency's
actions were premised on the finding that he had materially
misrepresented to immigration officials the circumstances of his
marriage, thereby making him statutorily ineligible for the relief
he seeks. Agyei challenges this factual finding and the related
determinations of ineligibility. He also raises due process and
ineffective assistance of counsel claims.
Applying the appropriate standards of review, we must
defer to the agency's factual findings. This deference compels us
to deny Agyei's petition for review.
I.
A. Agyei's Requested Forms of Relief
Agyei is a Ghanaian national who entered the United
States without inspection in 1984. His proceedings have taken a
long and winding course, during which he has deployed a variety of
stratagems in an effort to avert his removal. Two forms of relief,
adjustment of status and cancellation of removal, are at issue in
this case.
Agyei seeks adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C.
§ 1255(i), which permits certain noncitizens to become lawful
permanent residents ("LPRs"). This statute provides a pathway to
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relief for "certain grandfathered aliens" who would otherwise be
ineligible to adjust status because they entered without inspection
or are otherwise precluded from availing themselves of the more
common form of adjustment of status. Matter of Estrada, 26 I. & N.
Dec. 180, 183 (BIA 2013); see also id. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a), (c).1
The statute sets forth various means of adjusting status.
The one at issue in this case is the family-based mechanism, which
requires as a precursor that an LPR or U.S. citizen family member
petition on behalf of the noncitizen seeking to adjust status. Id.§ 1255(i)(1)(B)(i). The "grandfathering" provisions of the statute
require that the petition have been filed before April 30, 2001.
Matter of Estrada, 26 I. & N. Dec. at 183; see also 8 U.S.C.
§ 1255(i)(1)(B)(i). The petition names the noncitizen seeking
adjustment as the beneficiary. See id.; see generally Luevano v.
Holder, 660 F.3d 1207, 1213-14 (10th Cir. 2011). This petition,
called an I-130 petition, is sent to U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services ("USCIS"), an agency within the Department of
Homeland Security ("DHS"). See, e.g., Lockhart v. Napolitano, 573
F.3d 251, 253-54 (6th Cir. 2009). USCIS adjudicates the petition
and determines whether it should be approved. As part of that
process, USCIS verifies the existence of the family relationship.
See Taing v. Napolitano, 567 F.3d 19, 21-22 (1st Cir. 2009); see
1
For more background regarding the history and purpose of
this statute, see Matter of Rajah, 25 I. & N. Dec. 127, 133-34 (BIA
2009).
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also 8 U.S.C. § 1154(b). For these purposes, Agyei has variously
been the beneficiary of either his brother, Henry Opoku, or his
wife, Esther Raudys, who are both U.S. citizens.
If USCIS approves the petition, the beneficiary "may then
seek adjustment of status to that of a LPR by filing an . . .
application." See Taing, 567 F.3d at 21.2 If the beneficiary is
in removal proceedings, the presiding immigration judge ("IJ") has
authority over the adjustment application and decides whether the
applicant meets the statute's other requirements and should receive
relief. 8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(1).
Agyei's second requested form of relief is cancellation
of removal for certain non-LPRs, otherwise known as non-LPR
cancellation. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b). Although it does not
entail a separate petitioning process, this form of relief also
relies on a family relationship. To be eligible for non-LPR
2
The statute also requires that an immigrant visa be
"immediately available . . . at the time [the] application is
filed" before the beneficiary can show eligibility for adjustment
of status. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(2)(B). The availability of family-
based visas is determined by a statutory formula, which sets forth
preference categories based on the family relationship at issue, as
well as annual limits on the number of visas available per
category. See id. §§ 1151(c), 1153(a). Once the I-130 petition is
approved, the beneficiary must then wait until a visa becomes
available to file an application. See Succar v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d
8, 14-15 & n.6 (1st Cir. 2005).
For certain categories of relatives, called "immediate
relatives," the approval of an I-130 petition makes a visa
"immediately available." Taing, 567 F.3d at 21 and n.2. As a
consequence, an application for adjustment of status may be filed
concurrently with an I-130 petition on behalf of an immediate
relative. Taing, 567 F.3d at 21.
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cancellation, the applicant must establish, inter alia, "that [his
or her] removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual
hardship to the alien's [U.S. citizen or LPR] spouse, parent, or
child." Id. § 1229b(b)(1)(D). Agyei has at different points
relied on his wife, Raudys, or his U.S. citizen child as his
qualifying relatives for the purposes of eligibility for
cancellation.
B. Agyei's Initial Proceedings Before the IJ
With that backdrop set, we now recount the facts of
Agyei's case, as drawn from the agency's findings and our review of
the administrative record. On October 30, 1997, his brother,
Opoku, filed an I-130 petition naming Agyei as a beneficiary. The
former Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") approved
Opoku's petition on May 27, 1998. This petition was not acted upon
for a number of years.3
In the meantime, on February 23, 1999, Agyei married
Esther Raudys in Massachusetts. Later that year, immigration
authorities detained Agyei and initiated removal proceedings,
charging him with being present in the United States without being
3
The delay in acting on Opoku's petition presumably was
attributable to the low statutory preference that the sibling of a
U.S. citizen receives. 8 U.S.C. § 1153(a)(4). There is a
substantial wait time for an approved sibling-based petition to
result in an immigrant visa. See, e.g., Visa Bulletin for August 2013, U.S.
Dep't of State, http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6028.html (last visited
Aug. 22, 2013). The record suggests that a visa did not become
available for Agyei through Opoku's petition until sometime in 2007
or 2008.
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admitted or paroled. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Agyei
conceded removability and stated that he would apply for non-LPR
cancellation, relying on Raudys as his qualifying relative. This
application listed separate addresses for Raudys and himself.
On October 27, 2000, the IJ held a hearing on Agyei's
cancellation application, where Agyei first offered testimony
regarding his marriage. In response to direct questions regarding
his living arrangements, Agyei stated that he married Raudys in
February 1999, and that they lived together for six months.
Eventually, Agyei and Raudys "started seeing things differently,"
and separated in order to "give each other space." He also
testified that he intended to divorce Raudys, but that he had not
yet done so in part because Raudys had terminal cancer.
At a subsequent hearing in April 2001, the IJ noted that
under BIA precedents, the availability of other means of avoiding
removal (such as adjustment of status) could weigh against Agyei in
determining whether his wife would suffer "exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship" for the purposes of establishing his
eligibility for cancellation. See generally In re
Monreal-Aguinaga, 23 I. & N. Dec. 56, 64-65 (BIA 2001). The IJ
suggested that it would therefore behoove Agyei to look into
adjusting status through his wife, rather than pursuing his
application for cancellation.
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C. Raudys's I-130 Application and the Subsequent Interviews
As suggested, on April 27, 2001, Raudys filed a Form I-
130 with USCIS in order to establish her relationship to Agyei.
The version of Raudys's I-130 contained in the record is dated May
22, 1999, despite the fact that Agyei first pursued adjustment
through his wife in 2001. The petition listed the same address for
both her and Agyei.
The IJ continued the removal proceedings so that USCIS
could adjudicate Raudys's I-130 petition. The case saw little
activity until November 2004. Then, as part of USCIS's
investigation, immigration officers conducted separate interviews
with Agyei and Raudys.4 USCIS's denial of Raudys's I-130, dated
January 18, 2006, states that the couple gave inconsistent answers
to several questions.5 These discrepancies included: the number of
years they had known each other, Agyei's favorite sports team,
their movie-watching habits, and whether they received paid
magazine subscriptions at home. USCIS also identified "many"
differences in their respective drawings of their bedroom, and
noted that Agyei filed taxes as a single person in 1999 and 2000.
4
Agyei and Raudys were apparently first interviewed by the
agency in October 2001, but the record does not disclose what
transpired at that meeting.
5
The denial letter states that Raudys was informed of the
agency's intent to deny her petition the previous year. Although
Raudys apparently submitted rebuttal information in response to
that notice, neither the agency's notice nor Raudys's rebuttal are
in the record.
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The denial letter stated that Raudys's attorney attempted
to rebut these contentions by suggesting that Agyei and Raudys were
"living separately from each other" so that Raudys could care for
her ailing mother during the daytime, but that they spent their
nights together. Based on the inconsistencies in their statements,
USCIS stated that the evidence suggested that Agyei and Raudys were
not living together, and it concluded that they had entered into a
sham marriage for the purpose of obtaining immigration benefits.
Accordingly, USCIS denied Raudys's I-130, thereby cutting off
Agyei's chance to adjust status through his wife.
D. Agyei's Further Proceedings Before the IJ and the BIA
During a period of some confusion relating to his
whereabouts, Agyei was ordered removed in absentia for failure to
appear at a hearing. Once the confusion was cleared up, the agency
resumed his removal proceedings in 2007. For reasons that remain
unclear, neither Agyei nor the IJ had received word at this point
of USCIS's January 18, 2006, denial of Raudys's I-130 petition.
At an April 12, 2007 hearing, the government attorney
informed the IJ and Agyei for the first time that Raudys's I-130
petition had been denied. In response, Agyei expressed his intent
to file another application for cancellation of removal, this time
relying on his U.S. citizen daughter as the qualifying relative.6
6
Although the revised application was apparently never filed,
the parties do not dispute that this particular cancellation
application is the one at issue in this appeal. Due to the
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On March 17, 2009, Agyei filed a motion asking to change
his requested form of relief yet again. He cited USCIS's previous
grant of his brother's petition in 1998, and stated his intent to
adjust status via that petition. The IJ granted the motion and the
proceedings were continued so that Agyei could submit supporting
documentation.
The proceedings reconvened on February 16, 2010, when
Raudys's I-130 petition was discussed in detail for the first time.
The government argued that USCIS's determination that Agyei and
Raudys had entered into a sham marriage defeated his eligibility
for adjustment based on Opoku's petition. See Part II.A, infra.
The IJ expressed reluctance to bar his application for relief based
solely on the denial of Raudys's I-130 petition, and continued the
case so that Agyei could submit evidence rebutting or explaining
the inconsistencies between Raudys's statement and his. The IJ
also suggested that Agyei apply for a waiver of inadmissibility for
his allegedly fraudulent statements, otherwise known as a 212(i)
waiver, filed on Form I-601, in order to clear his path to
adjustment. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(i) (permitting Attorney General to
waive inadmissibility due to noncitizen's "fraud or willful
misrepresentation of material fact").
parties' agreement on this subject, and the fact that it does not
alter the outcome of this appeal, we accept that the cancellation
application presently before us relied on Agyei's relationship to
his child.
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On June 4, 2010, Agyei submitted an affidavit stating
that he did not disclose the fact of his and Raudys's separation
during the I-130 interviews because he was "afraid." The affidavit
attributed any inconsistencies between his and Raudys's interviews
to this fear. This filing also indicated that Agyei had fathered
two children with a woman named Luckie Thompson. The first was
born in September 2002, before Agyei's November 2004 I-130
interview; the second was born in April 2008.
The IJ held a hearing a few weeks later, where Agyei's
counsel requested more time to file a waiver of inadmissibility for
his allegedly fraudulent statements. The IJ denied this request,
stating that Agyei had already been placed on notice that a waiver
might be necessary. The court also refused to let Agyei offer
further explanation regarding his misrepresentations to the agency,
noting that his affidavit conceded that he had concealed his
separation. The IJ then issued a lengthy oral decision that found
Agyei removable and ineligible for relief, and ordered his removal
to Ghana.
Agyei appealed to the BIA, which dismissed the appeal on
August 19, 2011. Due to his then-counsel's error, he failed to
file a timely petition for review. On November 17, 2011, with the
aid of his new and current attorney, Agyei filed a motion to
reconsider and reopen. Although styled as a "motion to reopen"
only, Agyei's motion also sought reconsideration of several of the
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BIA's conclusions as to his direct appeal, in addition to new due
process and ineffective assistance of counsel claims.
On March 29, 2012, the BIA denied the motion to the
extent it requested reconsideration because it was both untimely
and rehashed arguments already raised during his direct appeal.
The BIA also denied the motion to reopen because Agyei was
statutorily ineligible for his requested forms of relief, and thus
unable to show prejudice.
Nevertheless, the BIA granted Agyei's request that it
reissue the dismissal of his direct appeal, thereby giving him
another chance to seek review before this court. After the BIA
reissued its decision, Agyei filed a timely petition for review,
challenging both the dismissal of his direct appeal and the denial
of his motion to reopen and reconsider.
II.
The BIA adopted and affirmed the IJ, and also elaborated
on some of the bases of the IJ's order. Thus, our review
encompasses both the BIA's and the IJ's orders. Liu v. Holder, 714
F.3d 56, 59 (1st Cir. 2013). We review questions of law de novo,
id., and factual determinations for substantial evidence, id.(citing Lobo v. Holder, 684 F.3d 11, 16 (1st Cir. 2012)). Under
the latter standard, we cannot contravene the agency's factfinding
unless a reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to reach a
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contrary conclusion. Guaman-Loja v. Holder, 707 F.3d 119, 122 (1st
Cir. 2013).
We review the denial of a motion to reopen or reconsider
for abuse of discretion. Bead v. Holder, 703 F.3d 591, 593 (1st
Cir. 2013) (reopening); Martinez-Lopez v. Holder, 704 F.3d 169, 171
(1st Cir. 2013) (reconsideration). A motion to reopen focuses on
"new facts that will be proven at a hearing to be held if the
motion is granted," 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(1), and may be denied if
the movant fails to "establish[] a prima facie case of eligibility
for the substantive relief sought," Larngar v. Holder, 562 F.3d 71,
74 (1st Cir. 2009). The petitioner must demonstrate that the
agency committed an error of law or exerted its authority in an
arbitrary or capricious manner in denying the motion. See Raza v.
Gonzales, 484 F.3d 125, 127 (1st Cir. 2007). A motion to
reconsider must "set forth either an error of law or an error of
fact" in the agency's decision. Arias-Valencia v. Mukasey, 529
F.3d 428, 430 n.1 (1st Cir. 2008). The petitioner is required to
show that the "denial was made without a rational explanation,
inexplicably departed from established policies, or rested on an
impermissible basis." Zhang v. INS, 348 F.3d 289, 293 (1st Cir.
2003) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The posture of this appeal requires some explanation. As
noted, Agyei's petition seeks review of both the August 2011
dismissal of his direct appeal to the BIA, as well as the March
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2012 denial of his motion to reopen and reconsider. Although Agyei
raises a number of arguments on appeal, resolution of this case
depends on one basic issue -- whether the agency erred in finding
that he materially misrepresented the circumstances of his
marriage. As to the direct appeal, the BIA relied on the
misrepresentation finding in deeming Agyei ineligible for
adjustment of status and cancellation of removal. Agyei's motion
to reopen and reconsider, for its part, contended that the IJ had
denied him due process by precluding him from presenting evidence
in support of his cancellation application, and, relatedly, that
Agyei had been prejudiced by his prior counsel's ineffective
assistance in failing to ensure that this same evidence was
proffered to the agency. The agency rejected these arguments
because Agyei could not identify any prejudice arising from either
the denial of due process or his counsel's ineffective assistance.
The agency stated that even if it accepted all of Agyei's
arguments, they could not alter the fact that he had made material
misrepresentations to immigration officials, thereby rendering him
ineligible for relief.
A. Adjustment of Status
First, we address Agyei's ability to adjust status based
on his brother's I-130 petition. Among other requirements,
adjustment of status requires the applicant to show that he is
admissible to the United States. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(2)(A). By
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statute, a noncitizen who, "by fraud or willfully misrepresenting
a material fact, seeks to procure . . . a visa, other
documentation, or admission into the United States" is not
admissible. Id. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i).
We have previously reviewed the agency's finding that a
noncitizen sought to procure an immigration benefit through fraud
or willful misrepresentation as a question of fact subject to
substantial deference review. See Ymeri v. Ashcroft, 387 F.3d 12,
18 (1st Cir. 2004); see also Abdulahad v. Holder, 581 F.3d 290, 295
(6th Cir. 2009) (stating that finding that noncitizen had
fraudulently sought to procure immigration benefit was fact
question). This approach is consistent with our treatment of the
failure to establish a bona fide marriage as a factual
determination. See Krazoun v. Ashcroft, 350 F.3d 208, 211-12 (1st
Cir. 2003).
Here, the agency based its conclusion on "the
discrepancies and omissions in the respondent's statements and
documentation submitted to establish the bona fides" of his
marriage to Raudys. The dominant discrepancy was Agyei's failure
to disclose the fact of his separation from Raudys, despite Agyei's
acknowledgment that Raudys and he had been separated before the
filing of Raudys's I-130 petition and their subsequent interviews.
Although a separation is not a sufficient basis for finding a
marriage fraudulent, see Matter of McKee, 17 I. & N. Dec. 332, 334
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(BIA 1980), it is a material fact that the agency can rely on to
conclude that a marriage is not bona fide. See, e.g., Monter v.
Gonzales, 430 F.3d 546, 557-58 (2d Cir. 2005) (holding that
petitioner's "failure to state that he was living separately from
his wife . . . likely affected" agency's scrutiny of his marriage).
Agyei argues that his failure to disclose his separation
is distinguishable from a material misrepresentation. We are not
persuaded. For one thing, Agyei's conduct is difficult to
characterize as a mere "failure to disclose." He and Raudys
submitted an I-130 petition that listed themselves as sharing an
address, which was undisputedly untrue at the time they submitted
it. Although Agyei asserts that Raudys and he had prepared
Raudys's I-130 petition while they were still living together and
simply failed to correct the misleading statement, Agyei compounded
the effect of this misinformation at his I-130 interview by
answering a variety of questions regarding Raudys's and his shared
sleeping arrangements, strongly suggesting that he falsely
portrayed Raudys and he as living together. These statements were
more than mere omissions. Moreover, Agyei's own affidavit
acknowledges that he failed to disclose the fact of his separation
from Raudys, indicating his awareness that he had offered a
misleading depiction of his circumstances. Nor does the fact that
Agyei offered truthful testimony at a previous hearing before the
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IJ cure his conduct during the adjudication of Raudys's I-130
petition.
If that were not enough, there were numerous
inconsistencies in Agyei's and Raudys's statements to the INS
interviewers about subjects as basic as the number of years they
had known each other. Agyei also filed taxes as a single person
during the period of his marriage to Raudys and fathered a child
with another woman before his I-130 interview took place. While
these facts may not have been sufficient individually to establish
a finding of fraud, taken together they supply ample support for
the inference that Agyei misrepresented the circumstances of his
marriage to immigration officials.
In response, Agyei contends that inadmissibility under 8
U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) demands a showing that his
misrepresentation resulted in the procurement of an immigration
benefit, and that the statutory bar does not apply to him because
Raudys's I-130 petition was denied. We have stated, however, that
the statute "expressly covers attempts to procure admission or
other [i]mmigration law benefits, as well as successful
accomplishment of those goals." Ymeri, 387 F.3d at 20; see also 8
U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) (encompassing "[a]ny alien who, by fraud
. . . seeks to procure" an immigration benefit (emphasis added)).
Thus, the ultimate failure of Agyei's efforts is of no moment.
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Finally, Agyei raises the bare suggestion in his brief
that the IJ denied him due process or abused her discretion when
she failed to continue his hearing so that he could file a 212(i)
waiver.7 A successful waiver application would have given the IJ
occasion to consider whether to waive this ground of
inadmissibility, thereby rendering Agyei eligible for adjustment.
We deem this undeveloped argument abandoned. See Vallejo
Piedrahita v. Mukasey, 524 F.3d 142, 144-45 (1st Cir. 2008).
In sum, the agency did not err in concluding that Agyei
was inadmissible under the statute, and that he thus was ineligible
for adjustment of status.
B. Cancellation of Removal
Agyei's application for non-LPR cancellation relies on
the alleged hardship that his U.S. citizen child would suffer if he
were removed. Non-LPR cancellation requires, inter alia, the
applicant to demonstrate "good moral character." 8 U.S.C. §
1229b(b)(1)(B). The statute lists a number of ways that preclude
an individual from making this showing as a matter of law, one of
which is "giv[ing] false testimony for the purpose of obtaining any
[immigration] benefits." Id. § 1101(f)(6). Testimony "includes
any statement made under oath." Opere v. INS, 267 F.3d 10, 13 (1st
7
This argument differs from the due process claim we address
in Part II.C, infra, which concerns Agyei's ability to present
evidence showing extreme and unusual hardship to his daughter, as
required to establish his eligibility for non-LPR cancellation.
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Cir. 2001) (citing Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 781
(1988)). Although the statement need not be material, it must have
been made "with the subjective intent of obtaining immigration or
naturalization benefits." Kungys, 485 U.S. at 779-80.
Importantly, "false testimony" under the statute excludes mere
"concealments," id. at 781 (quotation marks omitted), as well as
statements "made to satisfy other motives -- e.g., embarrassment,
fear, or a desire for privacy," Restrepo v. Holder, 676 F.3d 10, 16
(1st Cir. 2012) (citing Kungys, 485 U.S. at 780). False testimony
also excludes "'falsified documents or statements not made under
oath.'" Kungys, 485 U.S. at 780 (quoting and adopting government's
brief).
In Reynoso v. Holder, 711 F.3d 199 (1st Cir. 2013), we
clarified that the applicability of a nondiscretionary bar to
demonstrating good moral character is a legal question that we
review de novo. Id. at 211. But in cases such as this one, where
"[t]he critical finding, and . . . the real substance of our
inquiry, is the finding that the alien gave false testimony," our
review is for substantial evidence. Id.; see also Restrepo, 676
F.3d at 16-17. Thus, we may grant Agyei's petition only if a
reasonable factfinder would be compelled to reach a conclusion
contrary to the agency's. Reynoso, 711 F.3d at 211 (citing INS v.
Elías–Zacarías, 502 U.S. 478, 481 (1992)).
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Here the agency determined that Agyei had given false
testimony because he had "provided false information to immigration
authorities in connection with" his application for adjustment of
status. This finding was necessarily based on statements made
during his I-130 interviews.8 As the above discussion regarding
Agyei's eligibility for adjustment of status demonstrates, the
record discloses that Agyei and Raudys made numerous inconsistent
statements about a range of facts in the course of their
interviews, supporting the finding that Agyei unsuccessfully tried
to pass off his marriage as bona fide. While some of these
statements may have related only to ordinary details, such as their
living arrangements, movie-watching habits, and shared magazine
subscriptions, the statute "imposes no materiality requirement."
Opere, 267 F.3d at 14. These findings about the sham marriage in
turn compel the conclusion that Agyei failed to establish good
moral character. See Reynoso, 711 F.3d at 212 (noting conflicting
testimony regarding "how long [petitioner] and her former spouse
had cohabitated" supported conclusion that petitioner had lied to
obtain immigration benefits).
8
Agyei does not dispute that statements made during a visa
petition interview qualify as false testimony under the statute.
See Opere, 267 F.3d at 14 (noting petitioner's testimony that he
"was placed under oath" at beginning of marriage interview and that
his statements during that interview therefore qualified as "false
testimony").
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Agyei responds that his June 2010 affidavit states that
he and Raudys "were afraid to tell that[] we have been separated
for a while." Because "embarrassment, fear, or a desire for
privacy" do not denote an intent to obtain immigration benefits,
Kungys, 485 U.S. at 780, Agyei maintains that the agency was
incorrect to conclude he had the requisite fraudulent intent. The
agency did not credit this response, and the record does not
require a contrary conclusion. Moreover, Agyei's affidavit does
not explain the object of his alleged fear, raising the strong
inference that Agyei was "afraid" he would be denied adjustment of
status. Such a fear is indistinguishable from a subjective intent
to obtain immigration benefits via fraud. See Opere, 267 F.3d at
14 (observing that petitioner had proffered false testimony when he
"lied about his living arrangements, and . . . did so out of fear
that if he told the truth, he would be denied a green card").
C. Agyei's Opportunity to Contest the Misrepresentation Finding
Agyei's motion to reopen and reconsider suggested that
the IJ unfairly deprived him of the chance to contest the finding
that he made material misrepresentations to immigration officials,
in violation of his due process right to a full and fair hearing.
He reiterates this argument on appeal. Whatever the merits of this
contention, it cannot provide the basis for a motion to reopen,
which "must state new facts that will be proven at a hearing to be
held if the motion is granted." Zhu v. Holder, 622 F.3d 87, 92
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(1st Cir. 2010) (citing 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(1)). The contention
that the IJ improperly refused to let Agyei testify regarding his
misrepresentations does not rely on "new facts." See id. (noting
that "new evidence . . . must have been unavailable and
undiscoverable at the former hearing" (citing 8 C.F.R. §
1003.2(c)(3)(ii))); see also Matter of O-S-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 56,
57-58 (BIA 2006) ("A motion to reconsider contests the correctness
of the original decision based on the previous factual record, as
opposed to a motion to reopen, which seeks a new hearing based on
new or previously unavailable evidence.").
To the extent Agyei sought to raise this argument in a
motion to reconsider, the statute states that such a motion should
be filed within thirty days of the underlying agency decision. 8
U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(6)(B). This deadline is in contrast to the
general time limit for filing a motion to reopen, which is ninety
days. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i). The agency concluded that to
the extent Agyei's motion sought reconsideration of the agency's
opinion, it was untimely. Agyei raises no challenge to that
conclusion on appeal. Consequently, we are unable to consider his
newly raised due process argument.
D. Agyei's Remaining Arguments
Agyei's motion to reopen and reconsider also contended
that (1) the IJ improperly precluded him from presenting further
evidence in support of his cancellation application that would have
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demonstrated extreme and unusual hardship to his U.S. citizen
children; and (2) his then-counsel provided him with ineffective
assistance by not making enough effort to present that same
evidence to the IJ before Agyei was eventually deemed ineligible
for relief. Agyei does not contest that these claims depend on his
ability to show prejudice, however. See Bernal-Vallejo v. INS, 195
F.3d 56, 63-64 (1st Cir. 1999). Here, the agency correctly noted
that the finding that he made material misrepresentations to
immigration officials made him ineligible for both cancellation and
adjustment. Agyei's additional evidence about the hardship of his
family members would not have remedied that finding of
ineligibility. This finding defeats his assertion that he was
prejudiced by either the alleged due process violation or his
counsel's allegedly flawed representation.
III.
Agyei's petition for review is denied.
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