UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-2019

KHALIL ZOUBAIRI; MOUAD ZOUBAIRI; ZAID ZOUBAIRI,

Petitioners,

v.

ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General,

Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration 

Appeals. 

Submitted: August 27, 2014 Decided: October 8, 2014

Before SHEDD and THACKER, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior 

Circuit Judge.

Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jorgelina E. Araneda, ARANEDA & STROUD IMMIGRATION LAW GROUP, 

Raleigh, North Carolina, for Petitioners. Stuart Delery, 

Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, Ernesto H. Molina, 

Jr., Assistant Director, Drew C. Brinkman, Trial Attorney, 

Office of Immigration Litigation, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 

JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. 

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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PER CURIAM:

Khalil Zoubairi (Zoubairi), a native and citizen of 

Morocco, petitions for review from a final order of removal 

issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the Board).1 We 

affirm.

Zoubairi entered the United States on a tourist visa in 

1995 and overstayed his visa. On December 7, 2001, Zoubairi 

married Joyce Clark, a United States citizen, and was granted 

lawful permanent resident (LPR) status on a conditional basis 

pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1186a. To remove the condition and 

obtain complete LPR status, Zoubairi and Clark filed a joint 

petition to remove the conditional basis of his LPR status on 

August 4, 2004. On September 29, 2004, the Department of 

Homeland Security (DHS) sought to rescind Zoubairi’s LPR status 

in Immigration Court in Atlanta, Georgia, contending that he did 

not enter into his marriage with Clark in good faith. 

Zoubairi and Clark were divorced on August 26, 2005. On 

June 9, 2008, Zoubairi withdrew the previously-filed joint 

petition to remove the conditional basis of his LPR status and 

instead applied for a waiver of the joint-filing requirement 

 1 Zoubairi’s minor sons also participate in this appeal as 

derivative beneficiaries to Zoubairi’s claim for relief. 

Because the claims of the minor sons are derivative, we provide 

no separate analysis for Zoubairi’s minor sons.
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pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(4), claiming that he had married 

Clark in good faith but the marriage had ended in divorce. On 

October 8, 2009, DHS denied Zoubairi’s waiver application and 

terminated his conditional LPR status, finding that he failed to 

show that he married Clark in good faith. 

On April 16, 2010, DHS commenced removal proceedings 

against Zoubairi by filing a Notice to Appear in Immigration 

Court in Charlotte, North Carolina.2

 DHS alleged that Zoubairi 

was removable as an alien: (1) who had remained in the United 

States for a time period longer than permitted; (2) who had been 

inadmissible at the time he was granted conditional LPR status; 

and (3) whose conditional LPR status had been terminated. 

Zoubairi appeared before an immigration judge (IJ) and conceded 

his removability. However, he renewed his application for a 

waiver of the joint-filing requirement, once again claiming that 

he had married Clark in good faith.

On October 24, 2011, and March 22, 2012, the IJ held 

hearings. On September 6, 2012, the IJ issued a written 

decision. The IJ found that Zoubairi was removable as charged 

based on his concession of removability and further found that 

neither Zoubairi nor Clark were credible on account of the 

 2 Because DHS sought removal, the rescission proceeding in 

Immigration Court in Atlanta was terminated.
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numerous inconsistencies in their testimony and the record 

evidence. Because Zoubairi had not entered into his marriage 

with Clark in good faith, the IJ found that Zoubairi was not 

entitled to a waiver of the joint-filing requirement and ordered 

that he be removed from the United States.

Zoubairi appealed the IJ’s decision to the Board. On July 

16, 2013, the Board dismissed the appeal, finding no clear error 

in the IJ’s determination that Zoubairi had not married Clark in 

good faith. This petition for review followed.

In determining whether an alien has entered into a marriage 

in good-faith, “the central question is whether [the couple] 

intended to establish a life together at the time they were 

married.” Damon v. Ashcroft, 360 F.3d 1084, 1088 (9th Cir.

2004). Under the relevant federal regulation, DHS examines all 

relevant evidence to gauge this intent, in particular: (1) the 

couple’s combined assets and liabilities; (2) the length of time 

the couple cohabited after marriage; and (3) the birth 

certificates of children born to the marriage. 8 C.F.R. 

§ 1216.5(e)(2).

We have reviewed the record and the decisions below and 

conclude that the evidence in the record clearly and 

overwhelmingly supports the Board’s determination that Zoubairi 

did not intend to establish a marital life with Clark at the 

time he entered into the marriage, notwithstanding his 
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challenges to this determination on evidentiary, constitutional, 

and other grounds. Because he did not enter into the marriage 

in good faith, we hold that Zoubairi is not entitled to a waiver 

of the joint-filing requirement. In so holding, we decline to 

address the government’s argument that we are precluded from 

reviewing Zoubairi’s challenges to the Board’s waiver decision, 

save his statutory and constitutional challenges. See 8 U.S.C. 

§ 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) (precluding review of any “decision or 

action of the Attorney General . . . the authority for which is 

specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the 

Attorney General”); id. § 1252(a)(2)(D) (authorizing review of 

“constitutional claims or questions of law”).

Accordingly, the petition for review is denied. We 

dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal 

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the 

court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

PETITION DENIED