Court Opinion

ID: 9951424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-16 00:00:48.579923+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:40:08.371758
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60440           Document: 41-1         Page: 1      Date Filed: 03/15/2024

           United States Court of Appeals
                for the Fifth Circuit                                   United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                 Fifth Circuit
                                  ____________
                                                                               FILED
                                                                         March 15, 2024
                                   No. 23-60440
                                 Summary Calendar                         Lyle W. Cayce
                                 ____________                                  Clerk

Mohamad Al Fayad; Adam Mohamad Al Fayad; Maryam
Semhat,

                                                                              Petitioners,

                                         versus

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,

                                                                             Respondent.
                  ______________________________

                     Petition for Review of an Order of the
                         Board of Immigration Appeals
                          Agency Nos. A209 092 389,
                         A209 092 390, A209 092 391
                  ______________________________

Before King, Haynes, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam: *
      Mohamad Al Fayed, a native of Kuwait and citizen of Lebanon,
petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
dismissing his appeal from an order of an Immigration Judge (IJ) denying his
application for, inter alia, asylum and withholding of removal and ordering

      _____________________
      *
          This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-60440         Document: 41-1       Page: 2     Date Filed: 03/15/2024

him removed. He first argues that the IJ infringed his due process rights by
not developing the record and otherwise aiding him, but he did not exhaust
this claim. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1); Monteon-Camargo v. Barr, 918 F.3d
423, 429 (5th Cir. 2019). Because, as the Respondent notes, Al Fayed failed
to exhaust this claim by presenting it to the BIA, we will enforce the
exhaustion claim-processing rule and decline to consider this argument. See
Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, 598 U.S. 411, 419 (2023); Carreon v. Garland, 71
F.4th 247, 257 & n.11 (5th Cir. 2023). Al Fayed’s challenge to the BIA’s
decision not to consider his ineffective assistance claim due to his failure to
comply with the procedural requirements of Matter of Lozada, 19 I. & N. Dec.
637 (BIA 1998), fails because “[s]trict compliance” with Lozada is
mandatory. Hernandez-Ortez v. Holder, 741 F.3d 644, 647-48 (5th Cir. 2014).
       Finally, Al Fayed’s challenges to the BIA’s affirmance of the IJ’s
rejection of his claims for asylum and withholding are unavailing. Review of
the record rebuts his challenge to the BIA’s conclusion that he waived any
challenge he may have had to the IJ’s rejection of his proposed particular
social group by failing to argue this issue in his brief to that entity. See Matter
of N-A-I, 27 I. & N. Dec. 72, 73 n.1 (BIA 2017); Lopez-Perez v. Garland, 35
F.4th 953, 957 n.1 (5th Cir. 2022).       His argument that the BIA erred by
concluding that his kidnaping was motivated by financial reasons fails
because he cites no evidence compelling a contrary conclusion. See Zhang v.
Gonzales, 432 F.3d 339, 344 (5th Cir. 2005). The petition for review is
DENIED.