Opinion ID: 28756
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Factual Review

Text: In order for Ontunez to succeed in his request for withholding of removal based on the Convention, he must meet his burden of showing that more likely than not he would be subjected to “torture” upon his return. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c)(2). Torture is defined in 8 C.F.R. § 208.18(a)(1), which requires inter alia that the “pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” The regulations later clarify that “[a]cquiescence of a public official requires that the public official, prior to the activity constituting torture, have awareness of such activity and thereafter breach his 23 or her legal responsibility to intervene to prevent such activity.” 8 U.S.C. § 208.18(a)(7). “Willful blindness” suffices to prove “acquiescence.” See In re S-V-, Int. Dec. 3430 (BIA 2000) (en banc). The BIA rejected Ontunez's request for withholding of deportation because he failed to show that Honduran public officials would acquiesce in his torture. Specifically, the BIA held that even if the landlords had general support in some sectors of the Honduran government, that support alone did not establish that Honduran officials would acquiesce in his torture. Ontunez challenges this finding, pointing out other governmental connections in his story: the police escort to the Mejia assassination, the fact that the police never apprehended the landlords for the assassination, the police clearing Las Delicias in 1997, the impunity given the landlords while they persecuted Foundation leaders, and the Honduran government's policy of dislodging squatters. Ontunez claims all this evidence would compel reasonable factfinders to find the necessary acquiescence by the Honduran government. We disagree that his evidence compels a different result than the one reached by the BIA. First, while the police escort to the Mejia assassination is troubling, the police ultimately arrested Puerto, convicted him, and incarcerated him. Second, though the landlords were not arrested for the crime after Puerto's 24 confession, Ontunez's testimony that Melgar denied complicity in the assassination provides at least some explanation why the Honduran government did not prosecute or arrest them. Third, Ontunez argues police complicity in the clearing of Las Delicias, but he also testified that it was done pursuant to a court order. We can hardly fault the Honduran police for enforcing court orders, even though Ontunez claims the order was tainted. Fourth, the Honduran government does indeed have a policy of dislodging squatters, as noted in a State Department report, but Ontunez fails to note that the report says that the government only dislodges squatters who are on the land illegally, and does so with minimal force. See United States Department of State, Honduras: Profile of Asylum Claims & Country Conditions, January 1999, at 5-6. This does not suggest they would turn a blind eye to torture. Finally, the possible connection between Melgar and President Flores does not compel a finding that the President would ignore torture, especially in light of Ontunez's repeated testimony that the landlords attempted to follow the legal process. Ontunez has not presented evidence that compels a finding that officials would acquiesce in “torture” committed by the landlords. Accordingly, we will affirm the decision of the BIA.