Karim Heydari Ahwazi v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, David Marshall Sahabandu v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Karim Heydari Ahwazi and David Marshall Sahabandu each petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) denial of their motions to reopen their respective deportation proceedings to apply for adjustment of status based on their marriages to United States citizens. We consolidated the petitions and deny both.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

A. Ahwazi

Petitioner Ahwazi, a native and citizen of Iran, was admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant student on September 29, 1977. He was authorized to remain in this country until June 4, 1978, but he failed to leave within that time. Accordingly, deportation proceedings were brought against him. On September 4,1980 an immigration judge found Ahwazi deportable as an overstay based on his own admissions, denied his application for a suspension of deportation, and granted him the privilege of voluntary departure on or before September 15, 1980. Ahwazi appealed that decision to the BIA. The BIA dismissed that appeal on August 19, 1981. This court denied Ahwazi’s petition for review of the BIA’s decision in an order dated October 21, 1982. Following this denial of his petition for review, Ahwazi failed to leave the…

dissenting:

It has been universally understood that before an administrative body can exercise its considerable, almost unfettered, discretion over the lives of those placed before it, the agency has an initial obligation to address the equities that it is required to consider. The majority appears to adopt, for the first time, the proposition that the INS can make a determination of the equities in a particular case without bothering to consider the facts which define these equities. With all due respect for the concerns expressed by the majority, I dissent.

Both petitioners have made out a prima facie case for reopening the BIA’s consideration of their petition to adjust their immigration status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255 (a). The INS admits this. Both petitioners filed timely motions to reopen their deportation proceedings for the purpose of applying for discretionary relief from the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order of deportation. Both motions to reopen fell within the narrow definition set forth at 8 C.F.R. § 3.2 , promulgated by the INS to identify those cases worthy of reopening. That is to say, both motions to the BIA were supported by undisputed affidavits…

751 F.2d 1120 Karim Heydari AHWAZI, Petitioner, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent. David Marshall SAHABANDU, Petitioner, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent. Nos. 84-7000, 84-7076. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Dec. 4, 1984. Decided Jan. 16, 1985. Rudy Aguirre, Cardenas, Fifield & Aguirre, Alhambra, Cal., for petitioners. Dzintra I. Janavs, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for respondent. On Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Before SNEED, ANDERSON, and FERGUSON, Circuit Judges. SNEED, Circuit Judge: 1 Karim Heydari Ahwazi and David Marshall Sahabandu each petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) denial of their motions to reopen their respective deportation proceedings to apply for adjustment of status based on their marriages to United States citizens. We consolidated the petitions and deny both. I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW A. Ahwazi 2 Petitioner Ahwazi, a native and citizen of Iran, was admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant student on September 29, 1977. He was authorized to remain in this country until June 4, 1978, but he…