Asif Ur Rehman v. Todd Blanche

── Asif Ur Rehman v. Todd Blanche ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: April 20, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0179n.06 Case No. 25-3477 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Apr 20, 2026 ) KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ASIF UR REHMAN, ) Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) FROM THE UNITED STATES ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION TODD W. BLANCHE, Acting U.S. Attorney ) APPEALS General ) Respondent. ) OPINION Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; LARSEN and DAVIS, Circuit Judges. DAVIS, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Asif Ur Rehman seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order denying his motion to remand and dismissing his appeal of the immigration judge’s decision denying his claims for asylum and withholding of removal. For the reasons stated below, we deny the petition for review. I. Rehman is a native and citizen of Pakistan. He served in the Pakistani Air Force from 1973 until his retirement in 2007. During his military service, among other responsibilities as Provost Marshal, Rehman conducted investigations and issued arrest orders for members of the military who were suspected of extremist activities. According to Rehman, his work rooting out extremists led to danger for him and his family. In 2002, a man in a car attempted to abduct Rehman’s daughter, Onaiza, while she was playing No. 25-3477, Rehman v. Blanche outside in Pakistan. When Rehman later found and interrogated the driver, he learned that the man was a member of the military who was paid to kidnap Onaiza. Rehman reported the incident to a superior officer, and the military relocated him and his family to Paris for their safety. Rehman returned to Pakistan in 2005 and took early retirement. He then moved to the United States in 2007 to join his children, who had departed to the United States in 2005 on F1 education visas. Rehman entered the United States on January 19, 2007. In March 2019, Rehman received a Notice to Appear, which placed him in removal proceedings. Rehman retained Dennis Clare to represent him in his immigration proceedings. Rehman filed an application for cancellation of removal based on his qualifying relative, Mary Burke, his legal spouse at the time. But Burke died before the scheduled hearing. Clare withdrew Rehman’s application for cancellation of removal and did not file a widow petition on Rehman’s behalf. Instead, Rehman applied for asylum and withholding of removal. He claimed fear that if he were to return to Pakistan, he would be harmed by the suspected extremists he ousted during his military tenure or by the Pakistani intelligence services (“ISI”) who might believe, based on his many years of residence in the United States and insight into Pakistani intelligence, that Rehman cooperated with the United States government. According to Rehman, Clare offered minimal assistance in preparation for his immigration hearing. Specifically, Rehman asserts that Clare provided no help with preparing his asylum statement or his testimony, failed to inform him of the need for corroborating evidence, and assured him that the materials submitted sufficed. During the hearing itself, Rehman claims that Clare ke