Rodriguez-Palacios v. Barr
Opinion
Jaime Rodriguez-Palacios ("Rodriguez"), a Mexican citizen, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals's ("BIA") order, which upheld the Immigration Judge's ("IJ") denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). We dismiss in part and deny in part the petition for review.
I.
Rodriguez was born in Mexico and entered the United States without inspection in February 2007. The Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") commenced removal proceedings against Rodriguez on July 3, 2012, by filing a Notice to Appear with the Immigration Court that charged him with being removable from the United States under
At a hearing before the IJ on May 3, 2017, Rodriguez testified as follows. He was born and raised in Colima, Mexico, where his parents and siblings still resided. Four years before he entered the United States, someone unsuccessfully tried to hit him with a bottle at a party. After the attempted assault, Rodriguez ran away with his friends and, afraid of retaliation, never reported the incident to the police, though his friends told him that the perpetrator belonged to a gang. Before he left for the United States, he worked at a shipyard. Neither he nor his co-workers had any problems there. He left Mexico with the assistance of a coyote "[b]ecause [he] was looking for the future, and because of the violence that's in Mexico."
*16 Rodriguez further testified that his family had no problems in Mexico even after he left, though his brother worked for the Mexican military and kept to himself out of fear. Rodriguez also mentioned that, about a month before his hearing before the IJ, a friend of his was murdered by gang members at a location that was about fifteen to twenty minutes from his hometown, perhaps because his friend used drugs. Rodriguez testified that he feared returning to Mexico because he or his children could be targeted by kidnappers or extortionists who would assume that he had money because he was returning from the United States. Finally, Rodriguez noted that he did not apply for asylum in 2007 because circumstances were better in Mexico at that time. He stated that "[a]bout nine or 10 years [ago] is when things started to change. And they're worse and worse with the kidnappings and murders and the cartels."
After reviewing this testimony, along with news articles and country reports that Rodriquez submitted, the IJ denied Rodriguez's applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and deferral of removal under the CAT, but granted his request for voluntary departure. Rodriguez filed a Notice of Appeal to the BIA, which upheld the IJ's factual findings and dismissed the appeal. We now consider Rodriguez's timely petition for review of the BIA's ruling.
II.
Where, as here, "the BIA wrote separately while also approving the IJ's decision, our review is directed at both of those decisions."
Ahmed
v.
Holder
,
A.
A petitioner seeking asylum must "demonstrate[ ] by clear and convincing evidence" that his asylum application was filed within one year of his arrival in the United States.
Rodriguez did not file his asylum application within one year of entering the United States. Moreover, he acknowledges that "we have no jurisdiction to review the Attorney General's determination that an asylum application is untimely and unexcused by circumstances."
Usman
v.
Holder
,
Nevertheless, Rodriguez contends that we may review his challenge pursuant to
*17
Usman
,
Rodriguez styles his challenge to the BIA's timeliness ruling as one that targets the legal standard that the BIA applied. In fact, however, his challenge takes issue with the evidentiary basis for the BIA's finding that "circumstances" did not excuse his untimely application for asylum. Therefore, we do not have jurisdiction to review his petition for review of the BIA's ruling on his asylum claim.
See
Oroh
v.
Holder
,
B.
Rodriguez also sought withholding of removal and protection under the CAT. These forms of relief require the petitioner to prove that it is "more likely than not" that he himself would face persecution or torture if he returned to his home country.
Usman
,
With respect to his challenge to the BIA's ruling affirming the IJ's denial of his request for withholding of removal, Rodriguez waived it by failing to develop it in his opening brief.
See, e.g.
,
United States
v.
Zannino
,
The IJ specifically found that Rodriguez was not tortured in the past, that his family has not been tortured in Mexico, and that, although one of his friends was killed, Rodriguez had not provided any evidence with respect to that crime to show the motivation of the killers. As Rodriquez fails to identify any evidence to suggest that substantial evidence fails to support the BIA's affirmance of the IJ's finding that he himself is not likely to be tortured, he provides us with no basis for overturning the BIA's ruling on his CAT claim.
III.
The petition for review is dismissed in part and denied in part .
Rodriguez notes that the Notice to Appear failed to designate a date or time for the future hearing, stating only that he was required to appear at a date and time "to be set." Citing
Pereira
v.
Sessions
, --- U.S. ----,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jaime RODRIGUEZ-PALACIOS, Petitioner, v. William P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published