17-3306 Ramage v. Barr BIA Segal, IJ A094 380 979 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT=S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING TO A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United 3 States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, 4 on the 13th day of December, two thousand nineteen. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 DENNIS JACOBS, 8 JOSÉ A. CABRANES, 9 ROBERT D. SACK, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 _____________________________________ 12 13 EVERARD JOE RAMAGE, AKA EVERAND 14 RAMAGE, AKA EVERAD RAMAGE, 15 Petitioner, 16 17 v. 17-3306 18 NAC 19 WILLIAM P. BARR, UNITED STATES 20 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 21 Respondent. 22 _____________________________________ 23 24 FOR PETITIONER: Joshua Bardavid, New York, NY. 25 26 FOR RESPONDENT: Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney 27 General; Cindy S. Ferrier, 28 Assistant Director; Sunah Lee, 29 Trial Attorney, Office of 30 Immigration Litigation, United 31 States Department of Justice, 32 Washington, DC. 1 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a

2 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby

3 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review

4 is DENIED.

5 Petitioner Everard Joe Ramage, a native and citizen of

6 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, seeks review of a September

7 15, 2017, decision of the BIA affirming a December 29, 2016,

8 decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying Ramage’s

9 application for withholding of removal and relief under the

10 Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In re Everard Joe

11 Ramage, No. A 094 380 979 (B.I.A. Sept. 15, 2017), aff’g No.

12 A 094 380 979 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Dec. 29, 2016). We

13 assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and

14 procedural history.

15 Under the circumstances, we have considered both the IJ’s

16 and the BIA’s opinions “for the sake of completeness.”

17 Wangchuck v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec.,

(2d

18 Cir. 2006). The applicable standards of review are well

19 established.

(b)(4)(B); Yanqin Weng v.

20 Holder,

(2d Cir. 2009).

21 Absent past persecution, an alien may establish

22 eligibility for withholding of removal or CAT relief by

2 1 demonstrating a likelihood of future persecution or torture.

2 See

(b)(2), (c)(2). Persecution may

3 “encompass[] a variety of forms of adverse treatment,

4 including non-life-threatening violence and physical abuse,”

5 but the harm must be sufficiently severe, rising above “mere

6 harassment.” Ivanishvili v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice,

(2d Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks and brackets

8 omitted). Economic harm “constitutes persecution if it

9 (1) deprives the victim of liberty, food, housing, employment

10 or other essentials of life, or (2) deliberately imposes a

11 severe economic disadvantage.” Huo Qiang Chen v. Holder, 773

(2d Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks

13 omitted). “[T]orture requires proof of something more severe

14 than the kind of treatment that would suffice to prove

15 persecution,” Kyaw Zwar Tun v. U.S. INS,

, 567

16 (2d Cir. 2006), and is defined as “any act by which severe

17 pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is

18 intentionally inflicted [for certain purposes],” Pierre v.

19 Gonzales,

(2d Cir. 2007) (quoting 8 C.F.R.

20 § 208.18(a)(1)). Ramage failed to establish a likelihood

21 that he will be persecuted or tortured in St. Vincent and the

22 Grenadines based on his medical condition.

3 1 The agency reasonably concluded that the record

2 established that Ramage might face discrimination in St.

3 Vincent and the Grenadines, but that such discrimination

4 would not rise to the level of persecution, either physical

5 or economic, or torture. See Ivanishvili,

;

6 Mei Fun Wong v. Holder,

(2d Cir. 2011) (“We

7 have emphasized that persecution is an extreme concept that

8 does not include every sort of treatment our society regards

9 as offensive.” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Kyaw Zwar

10 Tun,

. The agency also reasonably found that,

11 although access to medical care may be more limited than in

12 the United States, the record did not reflect that individuals

13 similarly situated to Ramage are deprived of or denied medical

14 care. Further, because the record does not include specific

15 examples of employment discrimination or deprivation of

16 medical care in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but rather

17 provides that the government and private sector are working

18 to reduce health-related stigmas, that the government plans

19 to enact anti-discrimination legislation, and that most

20 people similarly situated to Ramage receive free medication,

21 Ramage’s claim that he would likely be persecuted and tortured

22 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is speculative. See Jian

4 1 Xing Huang v. INS,

(2d Cir. 2005) (“In the

2 absence of solid support in the record . . . , [an

3 applicant’s] fear is speculative at best”).

4 Accordingly, the agency did not err in finding that

5 Ramage failed to demonstrate a likelihood of persecution or

6 torture as required for withholding of removal and CAT relief.

7 See

(b)(2), (c)(2).

8 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is

9 DENIED. All pending motions and applications are DENIED and

10 stays VACATED.

11 FOR THE COURT: 12 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, 13 Clerk of Court

5