Abdulla v. Attorney General of the United States, No. 19-1167 (3d Cir. 2020)
Annotate this Case
Abdulla was born in Yemen in 1976. His father became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Abdulla’s parents divorced. Abdulla and his brother, Fawaz, joined their father in the U.S. Abdulla became a lawful permanent resident in 1990. Fawaz received proof of citizenship in 1995, Abdulla claims that his application was never processed. In 2014, Abdulla was convicted of food stamp and wire fraud. DHS served a notice to appear (NTA) in removal proceeding on Abdulla, providing that the hearing date and time remained to be set. Abdulla’s counsel argued that Abdulla had acquired derivative citizenship and that DHS had failed to establish that Abdulla’s convictions were aggravated felonies. He did not argue that the NTA was improper for failure to provide the date and time or that the immigration court lacked jurisdiction, given Abdulla’s derivative citizenship.
An IJ denied Abdulla’s motion to terminate. Abdulla’s counsel petitioned for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture, citing Yemen's civil war. On October 4, 2018, the IJ denied Abdulla’s petition and ordered removal. Abdulla’s BIA appeal was due on November 5, 2018, but was filed on December 21, 2018, by new counsel. Abdulla contended that his failure to timely file occurred for reasons that were beyond his control and exceptional because he reasonably expected his prior counsel to preserve his appeal rights and that upon learning that counsel had failed to do so, he acted with “speed, diligence, and zeal.” The BIA dismissed his appeal. The Third Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s decision not to self-certify the late-filed appeal or Abdulla’s unexhausted merits claim and non-colorable due process claim.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.