Duran-Rodriguez v. Barr, No. 16-72957 (9th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's decision affirming the IJ's denial of petitioner's application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The panel held that, although it was possible for the IJ to conclude that the death threats petitioner received were sufficiently serious and credible to rise to the level of persecution, the panel could not say that the evidence compelled the conclusion that petitioner suffered past persecution. Moreover, even assuming that petitioner had a subjective fear of future persecution, he failed to demonstrate that the record compelled reversal of the agency's internal relocation finding. Therefore, petitioner failed to establish eligibility for asylum and consequently, for withholding of removal. The panel also held that the IJ and BIA correctly concluded that petitioner had not been tortured in the past nor has he shown that it was more likely than not that he would be subjected to torture by or with the acquiescence of a public official. Accordingly, petitioner's CAT claim failed.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel denied a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ dismissal of an appeal, in a case in which Jose Duran-Rodriguez sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture on account of his membership in a social group of Mexican police officers. The panel held that the evidence did not compel the conclusion that Duran-Rodriguez suffered past harm rising to the level of persecution, where he received two death threats from “sicarios,” or hitmen of the Sinaloa drug cartel, to cooperate with them in transporting drugs to the Mexican border. The panel explained that although death threats alone can constitute persecution, they constitute persecution in only a small category of cases, and only when the threats are so menacing as to cause significant actual suffering or harm. The panel held that the evidence did not compel reversal of the Board’s determination that Duran-Rodriguez could relocate within Mexico to avoid future harm, and that Duran- Rodriguez therefore failed to establish eligibility for asylum and withholding relief. The panel held that the Board properly denied CAT relief because Duran-Rodriguez failed to establish that he was tortured in the past, or that it was more likely than not he would be subjected to torture by or with the acquiescence of a public official in the future. DURAN-RODRIGUEZ V. BARR 3 Specially concurring, Judge M. Smith wrote separately to elaborate on the point that although death threats alone may constitute persecution, the cases underlying that statement make clear that such death threats are always accompanied by some form of violence or harm to the petitioner, a family member, or others closely associated with him.
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