Ali v. Reno
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
237 F.3d 591 (2001)
- Written by Meredith Hamilton Alley, JD
Facts
Zainab Ali (defendant) and her family, including her father and brothers, were Iraqi citizens who fled political persecution in Iraq and lived in Syria for 10 years. Ali married a man who resided in the United States. Ali and her family moved to Denmark as refugees. Ali obtained a visa to visit her husband in the United States, where she remained for six years, overstaying her visa and unintentionally relinquishing her Danish refugee status. The family notified Ali that her father was extremely ill, causing Ali to travel to Denmark. The father was not ill; the family had tricked Ali for the purpose of forcing her to divorce her husband, but Ali refused. Ali’s father and brothers beat her severely, and Ali was hospitalized. Danish police officers arrested the father and brothers. Ali told the officers that she did not want her brothers to be prosecuted and asked the officers to warn the brothers not to contact her or go near her. The officers agreed to give the warning, but the chief of police decided not to pursue the matter because Ali did not want her brothers to be prosecuted. The police released the brothers from jail. One of the brothers threatened Ali with a gun, causing Ali to flee to the United States. Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Ali was ineligible for asylum because she had firmly resettled in Denmark before returning to the United States. The immigration board ordered Ali to be removed to Denmark or Syria, but Ali would be subject to removal in Denmark because she had lost her refugee status. Ali argued that she qualified for withholding of removal to Denmark under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the convention) because the Danish police had acquiesced to Ali’s abuse at the hands of her brothers. The immigration board held that the Danish police did not acquiesce to Ali’s abuse but declined prosecution of the brothers at Ali’s request. Ali sought reversal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Daughtrey, J.)
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