United States Ninth Circuit

In an asylum case regarding an alleged associate of al Qaeda operative Salah Saeed Mohammed bin Yousaf (a.k.a. Khallad), petition for review from a denial of asylum, denial of withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection is denied where: 1) statutory exclusion from withholding of removal and CAT relief due to national security threat requires reasonable grounds to believe the petitioner actually poses a threat to national security; 2) petitioner presented no substantive evidence to counter substantial evidence of his having arranged a medical appointment in the U.S. for Khallad; and 3) the IJ's adverse credibility finding was supported by evidence of material misrepresentations made during petitioner's naturalization proceedings and obfuscations regarding evidenced contacts with Khallad.

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/09/2008
• Decided 09/19/2008
• Published 09/19/2008

Judges

• McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:, Before:  STEPHEN REINHARDT, A. WALLACE TASHIMA, and M. MARGARET McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Frederic C. Tausend and Shaakirrah R. Sanders, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, LLP, Seattle, WA, for petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Lindemann, Assistant Director, William C. Peachey, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, D.C., for respondent-appellee.