Widower sues US govt to obtain humanitarian parole

A Bangladeshi widower who has been living in the CNMI for 18 years now and whose U.S. citizen wife died less than three years after their marriage is now suing the U.S. government for filing a case for his deportation.

Obaydul Hoque Bhuiyan, through counsel Joseph E. Horey, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to issue an order declaring that he has been lawfully present in the CNMI since Nov. 28, 2009, when the federalization of immigration took effect.

Bhuiyan is asking for a mandatory injunction requiring the U.S. government to immediately grant him humanitarian parole-in-place in the CNMI.

He also asked the court to issue a mandatory injunction to entertain any application that he may make for a CW-1 permit, or any other federal visa, permit, status or other relief, on the basis that he is lawfully present in the CNMI, and without any necessity of him departing the CNMI to apply.

Bhuiyan wants the court to bar the U.S. government or its agents from asserting that his presence in the CNMI is now unlawful, or has been unlawful at any time from Nov. 28, 2009, to the present.

Bhuiyan is demanding payment for his costs and attorney’s fees in filing the lawsuit.

In the complaint filed Friday, Horey stated that Bhuiyan first came to the CNMI from Bangladesh in 1996, and has resided in the CNMI continuously since then.

On March 5, 2004, Bhuiyan married Ana Atalig, also known as Ana Atalig Torres, a U.S. citizen.

After his marriage, Bhuiyan applied for and was issued an immediate relative permit by the CNMI government. Bhuiyan renewed his permit in 2005 and 2006.

Horey said that, on July 7, 2006, about two years and three months after her marriage to Bhuiyan, Atalig died.

After Atalig’s death, Bhuiyan renewed his IR permit in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Bhuiyan’s umbrella permit was valid through Nov. 27, 2011.

Beginning in August 2010, Horey said that Bhuiyan, anticipating the looming federalization of CNMI immigration law, looked into whether any federal immigration status was available to him.

Horey said Bhuiyan encountered documents, published by the U.S. government on the Internet and elsewhere, advising that an alien spouse of a U.S. citizen  whose citizen spouse had died before Oct. 28, 2009, and who did not have a Form I-130 on Oct. 28, 2009, could obtain permanent resident status in the U.S. as a widow(er) of a citizen by filing a Form I-360 (petition for Amerasian widow(er) or special immigrant) by Oct. 28, 2011.

In fact, the lawyer said, the avenue of eligibility described in the publications Bhuiyan encountered was lawfully available only to persons who, unlike him, had been married for less than two years at the time of the death of their citizen spouses.

However, Horey said, the publications Bhuiyan encountered did not mention that limitation, and a reasonable person of ordinary intelligence reading the publications would not understand that any such limitation existed.

On Aug. 29, 2011, Bhuiyan filed a Form I-360 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Horey said the Form I-360 clearly indicated Bhuiyan’s date of marriage (March 5, 2004) and the date of his wife’s death (July 7, 2006), making it readily apparent that Bhuiyan and his wife had been married for more than two years at the time of her death.

On Sept. 27, 2011, USCIS approved Bhuiyan’s Form I-360.

On Oct. 23, 2011, Bhuiyan filed the Form I-485 required as the final step for an alien in the U.S. to adjust status to that of lawful permanent resident.

On Aug. 17, 2012, Horey said the U.S. government revoked Bhuiyan’s previously approved Form I-360, as he and his wife had been married for longer than two years at the time of her death. Bhuiyan was told that his Form I-360 had been “inadvertently approved.”

On Oct. 6, 2013, Bhuiyan’s Form I-485 was denied, due to the revocation of his Form I-360.

On Feb. 12, 2013, Bhuiyan applied for humanitarian parole-in-place, which was denied.

On March 12, 2013, Bhuiyan was issued a notice to appear for removal proceedings, on the ground that he was “an immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa.”

On May 8, 2013, Horey said, removal proceedings against Bhuiyan were administratively closed, but could be reopened at any time.

Horey said that, on Aug. 15, 2013, Bhuiyan again applied for humanitarian parole-in-place, but to date, there has been no response to this application.

“As a consequence of his detrimental reliance on defendant’s conduct, Bhuiyan remains in danger of removal from the CNMI,” the lawyer said.

Horey said his client has also been rendered unable to secure employment on a CW-1 permit, for the reason that eligibility for such a permit requires lawful presence in the CNMI at the time of application.