Opinion ID: 42937
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Raja Akhtar

Text: 2 Raja Akhtar, a native and citizen of Pakistan, entered the United States in 1990 through Texas using a fraudulent passport. He has been living in this country ever since, going abroad once, in 1997, pursuant to a fraudulently obtained advance parole. In 2000, Akhtar married his current wife, Aracely Cuellar Chapa, a United States citizen, with whom he has two citizen children. 3 The INS, now part of the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), commenced removal proceedings against Akhtar on December 9, 2000. In response, Akhtar filed an application for cancellation of removal and an application for adjustment of status based on his marriage. He also sent a letter to the INS District Director, asking him to temporarily terminate the removal proceedings because the Immigration Judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the application for adjustment of status while the proceedings continued. The INS asked the IJ to confirm that she lacked such jurisdiction under a regulation forbidding applications from arriving aliens in removal proceedings, like Akhtar. The IJ did so. After the District Director refused to terminate removal proceedings, the IJ denied Akhtar's application for cancellation of removal, finding that he failed to establish that removal would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying family member, and issued a final order of removal. The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his appeal without comment. 1 4 On appeal to this court, Akhtar argues: 1) that the regulation precluding applications for adjustment of status from arriving aliens in removal proceedings is invalid; 2 2) alternatively, since the USCIS District Director has jurisdiction to adjudicate such applications if removal proceedings are conditionally terminated, that we should initiate conditional termination; and 3) that the IJ erred in denying Akhtar's application for cancellation of removal.