Opinion ID: 668543
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Appellant, an Egyptian citizen, is a blind Islamic cleric in his mid-fifties. He was granted permanent residence in the United States as a minister of religion on April 8, 1991. In June 1991, appellant went on a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, returning to the United States on July 31, 1991. INS permitted appellant to enter the country on a contingent basis, i.e., paroled him, pending the completion of INS' inspection. See 8 C.F.R. Sec. 235.3(c) (1991) (Any alien [with documents] who appears to the inspecting officer to be inadmissible ... may be detained, paroled, or paroled for deferred inspection....). 3 In January 1992, while appellant's inspection was still pending, a district director of the INS notified appellant of INS' intent to rescind his status as a permanent resident. The notification alleged that at the time appellant obtained permanent resident status, he should have been excluded from the United States on the grounds that he: 1) practiced polygamy; 2) was convicted of falsifying a check, which constitutes a crime of moral turpitude; and 3) misrepresented material facts regarding his marital and criminal background on his application for permanent residence. 4 Appellant replied by letter on January 17, 1992, asking for 60 days to respond to the INS notice and requesting copies of documentation supporting INS' allegations. On March 6, 1992, based on the lack of formal response, the district director rescinded appellant's status as a permanent resident. Appellant was then notified that exclusion proceedings would soon be commenced. 5 At an exclusion hearing on May 14, 1992, appellant conceded that 1) he was properly in exclusion proceedings; 2) he was excludable as an immigrant not in possession of a valid visa or other documentation permitting entry; and 3) he failed to file a proper answer to the notice of intent to rescind his status as a permanent resident. Ali, 829 F.Supp. at 1421. Appellant then applied for political asylum and withholding of deportation based on his fears of persecution by the Egyptian government. 6 Upon request by the immigration judge considering the asylum application, the Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs of the United States Department of State issued confidential and non-confidential reports of appellant's activities. The non-confidential report characterized appellant as the leader of an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization responsible for the assassinations of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and other high-level political leaders of Egypt. The Department of State recommended that appellant's application for political asylum be denied. 7 On March 16, 1993, the immigration judge found appellant to be excludable from the United States and denied the request for asylum. The immigration judge refused to review the district director's decision to rescind appellant's permanent resident status on the ground that he lacked jurisdiction. Based on the outcome of the proceedings, INS revoked appellant's parole status on July 2, 1993. The Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the immigration judge's decision and issued a final order of exclusion on July 9, 1993. The appeal of the district court's denial of appellant's petitions for writ of habeas corpus is now before us.