Opinion ID: 4529351
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fear of Gang Persecution

Text: Scarlett also sought withholding and CAT relief based on feared gang violence. He testified that, after transfer to Guanaboa Vale, he was threatened by gang members. The first incident occurred after Scarlett seized firearms from the scene of an October 2009 shooting. Within days of the seizure, Scarlett observed a white Toyota driving by his home. Scarlett identified the vehicle’s occupants as members of the Shower Posse because they used certain gang signs and the word “Shower” as they accused Scarlett of being a “police boy” and threatened to kill him if he did not return their guns. 7 The second incident happened a month later, in November 2009, after Scarlett shot and killed the leader of the One Order gang in the course of responding to another shooting scene. Two days later, Scarlett saw the same white Toyota approach his home. This time the vehicle’s occupants not only verbally threatened Scarlett’s life and home, but also fired a gunshot. Scarlett called emergency services, but by the time police arrived, the car had left the scene. Fearing for his and his family’s lives, Scarlett took his family into hiding, staying for brief periods with various neighbors and friends. When Scarlett sought police assistance, Superintendent Aston Thompson told him there were “no resource[s]” to help him. Admin. R. 1499−1500. Thompson did offer, however, to transfer Scarlett to the Bog Walk police station, four miles away from Guanaboa Vale. Scarlett accepted the transfer. While assigned to Bog Walk, Scarlett experienced no direct threats, but neighbors told him of people driving in and out of the neighborhood asking as to the whereabouts of Scarlett and his family. Then, one afternoon in January 2010, police intelligence officers contacted Scarlett and told him that One Order gang members were then en route both to his daughter’s school to kidnap the child and to Scarlett’s home to shoot it up and set it on fire. Scarlett testified that the police did not provide him with any assistance but, rather, told him that he was “on [his] own.” Id. at 542. Scarlett promptly picked up his children and never again sent them to school in Jamaica. Instead, he and his family continued to hide while Scarlett sought permission to leave Jamaica. 8 Scarlett testified that departure permission was required because he was a police officer. He stated that permission was initially denied because, in early 2010, Jamaica was then requiring all members of its Constabulary to be available to assist in the apprehension of notorious Shower Posse leader Christopher “Dudus” Coke, whose extradition was then being sought by the United States. 4 Following Coke’s June 2010 arrest, Scarlett was granted permission to leave Jamaica and, thus, arrived in the United States with his family on July 9, 2010. III. Events Following Scarlett’s Entry into the United States As earlier noted, Scarlett did not seek asylum from United States authorities upon entering this country or at any time while his non-immigrant visa was in effect. Scarlett testified, however, that approximately one month after arriving in the United States, he contacted Catholic Charities in Manhattan, which helped him obtain legal counsel to pursue an asylum application. Scarlett professed to have been unaware that no timely application was ever filed on his behalf. He never inquired into the matter because his attention was then focused on various hardships resulting from his own reduced economic circumstances and his wife’s cancer diagnosis. At some point, the couple separated, with Scarlett moving to Illinois to live 4 Police arresting Coke encountered considerable armed resistance, and some 73 civilians were killed in the ensuing shoot-out. 9 with his brother, while his wife and children resided in a different state. Scarlett testified that, sometime after the separation, he learned that his wife was abusing their children and trafficking drugs. An altercation between the couple resulted in Scarlett’s arrest and 2014 New York conviction for disorderly conduct. 5 Meanwhile, in 2013, Scarlett heard from a friend in Jamaica that gang members were still looking for him in order to kill him.