Jawad v. Holder, No. 11-3142 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseJawad, a Jordanian citizen, entered with his wife and son on a non-immigrant visa that expired in 1987. Before 1989, they had five more children in the United States. In 1998, they divorced. Six months later, Blankenship, a U.S. citizen, filed a visa petition, representing that she and Jawad had married. Blankenship later admitted that the marriage was fraudulent: Jawad had agreed to pay Blankenship $10,000. After ending his relationship with Blankenship, Jawad bought a home and invited his ex-wife and their children to move in with him. He did not divorce Blankenship. He was eventually charged as removable under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i) for remaining in the country on an expired visa and fraudulently entering into a marriage to secure an immigration benefit. Four years later, USCIS approved a new immediate-family visa petition for Jawad, on his behalf by his daughter, a citizen who had reached her 21st birthday. Following a hearing, the IJ found Blankenship the more credible witness, primarily because she was not promised protection from criminal liability for her testimony and decided that Jawad failed to show he merited a favorable exercise of discretion. The BIA dismissed an appeal. The Seventh Circuit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on August 30, 2012.
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.