Opinion ID: 809519
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Haitian government was acting with

Text: specific intent to torture criminal deportees The IJ concluded that “the [Haitian] government, as a policy, wishes to have the prison population subjected to torture.” In reaching this conclusion, he made several findings about the current (2005) state of prison conditions relating to lack of food, water and medical treatment, prevalence of disease and abusive guards — aspects of Haiti’s prisons that the BIA in In re J-E- had already agreed were deplorable and intolerable at the level they existed in 2000. In evaluating CAT claims, “we must assess the conditions as they currently exist.” Villegas, 523 F.3d at 989. The IJ supported his findings about the decline from 2000 conditions with the most recent (2004) State Department Country Report, and Kar11998 RIDORE v. HOLDER shan’s expert opinion. For example, he noted that Karshan’s report found: [C]onditions in Haitian prisons have declined so much . . . that prison conditions have now become death warrants for those interned in them. She note[d] that potable water is virtually unavailable to the individuals. Food, unless provided by the families, is very meager. Furthermore, the prisoners themselves have a hierarchy which controls what little food is made available. Therefore, without money as well, these individuals who are interned often have difficulty securing food for their sustenance. [Karshan] also noted that . . . medical facilities in these prisons [are] virtually nonexistent. Considering the conditions of these prisons, it is not uncommon for the prisoners to contract various diseases as outlined in the Country Reports. She note[d] that tuberculosis is on the rise in these facilities. Based on this and other hearing testimony and documents, the IJ found that “the conditions are so deplorable where disease is so rampant that these individuals detained in these prisons will have to suffer some long term problems that . . . can only be described as acts of torture.”2 “[T]he fact that they allow beriberi and tuberculosis to run rampant through the prison population, cannot be solely attributable to being unable to change those conditions. Clearly, the fact that they do not maintain proper medical facilities in those institutions can only be attributable to their willingness to use the jails to harm the inmates so that they will never be a threat to the population again.” [3] The BIA summarily rejected (or ignored) these findings with the oblique statement that “while we acknowledge 2 The IJ was careful to base his finding of torture on “severe suffering” rather than “severe pain.” RIDORE v. HOLDER 11999 that prison conditions in Haiti appear to have deteriorated since we rendered our decision in [In re] J-E-, supra, that does not undermine the rationale of our decision.” This short shrift approach is error. The BIA cannot, under a clear error standard of review, override or disregard evidence in the record and substitute its own version of reality. See Kaplun, 602 F.3d at 271-73 & n.9. This is particularly so when the BIA’s justifications for rejecting a finding of torture in In re J-E- turned on the respondent’s failure to meet his burden to produce evidence to support a finding of torture sanctioned by the Haitian government. See In re J-E-, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 303. The IJ found that the evidence Ridore produced, both as to worsened prison conditions and the Haitian government’s complicity in creating those conditions, was sufficient to distinguish his case from In re J-E-, and the BIA was obligated to explain why the IJ clearly erred in so finding. For instance, in addressing the IJ’s findings regarding the government’s hiring of likely abusive prison officials, the BIA tersely concluded that “the Immigration Judge’s leap, from noting that persons accused of committing human rights abuses have been placed in charge of some of Haiti’s prisons, to his conclusion that the government, therefore, put those people in charge because it wishes to have the prison population subjected to torture [is] illogical.” Such a conclusory pronouncement does not constitute clear error review. If it is true that the Haitian government has a policy of placing accused human rights violators in charge of prisoners, as the IJ found it does, then there is nothing illogical in inferring the government intends to put those prisoners at risk of cruel, abusive treatment that would qualify as “severe suffering” or “torture” — as the IJ found.3 If the BIA found clear error in the IJ’s evidentiary basis for his finding, it surely did not reveal what that 3 The BIA did not appear to dispute the IJ’s factual predicate that “persons accused of committing human rights abuses have been placed in charge of some of Haiti’s prisons.” 12000 RIDORE v. HOLDER error was. Instead, it appears to have relied simply on its own interpretation of the facts, which is not clear error review. 2. Whether Haiti’s detention policy is a lawful sanction [4] “Torture does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions. Lawful sanctions include judicially imposed sanctions and other enforcement actions authorized by law . . . but do not include sanctions that defeat the object and purpose of the Convention Against Torture to prohibit torture.” 8 C.F.R. § 1208.18(a)(3). The IJ decided that, because “[t]he Haitian constitution makes it unlawful to detain persons not involved in criminal activity,” “the Haitian government’s policy of indefinite detention of aliens not being charged with a crime in Haiti can[not] constitute legal sanctions.” Explaining this conclusion, the IJ cited the declining “deplorable” conditions discussed above and the minor nature of Ridore’s crimes.4 Specifically, the IJ found Ridore’s theft convictions to have involved minor offenses, and explained at some length why they could not justify “long term incarceration” under such life-threatening conditions as an appropriate, lawful sanction. Without discussing these findings and analysis, the BIA simply relied on its “contrary result” in In re J-E- that held that “Haiti’s detention policy does appear to be a lawful sanction designed to protect the populace from criminal acts committed by Haitians who are forced to return to the country after having been convicted of crimes abroad.” It said nothing about the IJ’s analysis of Ridore’s minor criminal record and why prolonged imprisonment of Ridore under conditions amounting to torture would not be a lawful sanction. 4 It is not clear whether the IJ’s reference to the Haiti constitution, which existed at the time of the BIA’s decision in In re J-E-, was an independent ground for his rejection of a legal sanction, or simply part of his reasoning why Ridore’s indefinite detention for his minor offenses could not, consistent with the constitution, be a legal sanction. Again, we do not know how the BIA understood the reference. RIDORE v. HOLDER 12001 Moreover, it is notable that In re J-E- used the term “indefinite detention” in reference to a procedure whereby, pending determination of a release date by a commission that meets irregularly, “detainees may be held for weeks in police holding cells before they are released.” In re J-E-, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 293, 300-01 (emphasis added). Previously the processing took no more than a week. Id. at 300. In this case, the IJ found that Ridore risks detention of a much greater duration, well beyond some “weeks.” The IJ explained that Ridore “is facing a long time imprisonment” because of his lack of family support in Haiti, such that Ridore will “very likely” suffer prolonged exposure to the life-threatening prison conditions that constitute “torture.” Here, too, the BIA ignored this significant factual distinction between Ridore’s “indefinite detention” and that involved in In re J-E-, a distinction that further undercuts the BIA’s rationale in that case for finding Haiti’s prison policy to be a lawful sanction. 3. Whether Ridore is likely to be subject to torture A petitioner is eligible for CAT protection only when he can establish by a preponderance of the objective evidence that “it is more likely than not that he or she will be subject to torture upon removal.” In re J-E-, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 302. The BIA said, “[W]hile we acknowledge that the record reflects isolated acts of torture in Haiti’s prisons, as we noted in [In re] J-E-, supra, such evidence is insufficient to establish that it is more likely than not that this particular respondent will be tortured.” Once again, this misapprehends and thus misstates the totality of the IJ’s findings and conclusions. The IJ did not find that Ridore was likely to be tortured just because there were “acts of torture in Haiti’s prisons.” Rather, as we have explained above, he found based on Karshan’s report that Ridore was likely to be tortured because, unlike the respondent in In re J-E-, Ridore did not have family members in Haiti and would therefore face a very prolonged period of detention under the life-threatening con12002 RIDORE v. HOLDER ditions that make such imprisonment almost “a death warrant.” The IJ based his factual findings on the evidentiary record, particularly Karshan’s expert report and testimony regarding “the conditions in Haiti for deported criminal aliens. She note[d] that upon their arrival in Haiti, criminal deportees are immediately turned over to the police authorities who intern these individuals in prisons. They are held in prisons for long periods of time while their cases are reviewed. She note[d] that these individuals are not released except to family members who often have to agree that they will be imprisoned should they not make the deportees available to the police when requested.” The IJ credited Karshan’s opinion that “if [Ridore] was returned back to his country [he] could expect a long detention in one of the various prisons scattered throughout Haiti. Because he has no family in that country, the likelihood of him being released would be virtually nonexistent. Because of the conditions in these prisons, they would for [Ridore] be life threatening either from disease or malnutrition, as well as possibly the routine brutality of those institutions.” Accordingly, the IJ found that “clearly [Ridore] upon his return back to Haiti will be turned over to the Haitian authorities who will immediately intern him in one of their prison facilities where he will be held indefinitely while the authorities determine what should be done with him.” The IJ found that, unlike the respondent in In re J-E-, Ridore “has no family in Haiti who can arrange with the authorities to have [him] released into their custody.” The BIA did not address these findings. [5] To summarize, throughout its CAT ruling the BIA failed to grapple with the evidentiary record in this case and to specifically address any clear errors the IJ made in his factual findings based on that evidence — evidence showing that both Haiti’s current prison conditions and Ridore’s personal circumstances are different from the record that prompted the BIA’s ruling in In re J-E-. The BIA in In re J-E- faulted the respondent for not carrying his burden of proof. See In re J- RIDORE v. HOLDER 12003 E-, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 303. Ridore, on the other hand, produced current documentary and expert evidence to show conditions have worsened and Ridore is at risk of torture. The IJ credited that evidence and issued a detailed and reasoned analysis of the facts existing in 2005 — four years later than In re J-E-. He found, on these facts, Ridore’s case to be materially distinguishable. [6] Rather than address the IJ’s fact-based determinations, the BIA simply invoked statements from In re J-E- as if they were still factually correct and ignored the IJ’s findings. That is not clear error review. It is not even apparent it would suffice as adequate de novo review. In any event, the BIA cannot disregard the IJ’s findings and substitute its own view of the facts. Either it must find clear error, explaining why; or, if critical facts are missing, it may remand to the IJ. See Rodriguez, 683 F.3d at 1177 (“If the BIA concludes that it cannot properly review the IJ’s decision without further factual development of the record, then the Board must remand the case to the IJ so that he may make the requisite factual findings.”). The BIA did neither here, so we are compelled to grant Ridore’s petition and remand to the BIA to reconsider the IJ’s decision granting CAT relief, applying the clear error standard of review.