Court Opinion

ID: 9370082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-10 19:00:36.981493+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:19.217642
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                        FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        FEB 10 2023
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                              FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ANDRE LUIZ COSTA SOARES,                        No.    21-70754

                Petitioner,                     Agency No. A208-805-903

 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,

                Respondent.

                     On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                         Board of Immigration Appeals

                      Argued and Submitted February 6, 2023
                                Phoenix, Arizona

Before: GRABER, CLIFTON, and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.

      Andre Luiz Costa Soares, a native and citizen of Brazil, petitions for review

of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) dismissal of his appeal of an

Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his motion to terminate proceedings

and his application for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”).

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a). We review for substantial

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
evidence the agency’s factual findings. Conde Quevedo v. Barr, 947 F.3d 1238,

1241 (9th Cir. 2020). We dismiss in part and deny in part the petition for review.

      Petitioner did not raise his claim that the IJ erred in not subpoenaing his

alleged U.S. citizen father before the BIA. Because he failed to exhaust the issue,

this court lacks jurisdiction to consider the claim. See Iraheta-Martinez v.

Garland, 12 F.4th 942, 948 (9th Cir. 2021) (stating that a failure to exhaust, absent

an exception, deprives this court of jurisdiction to consider the issue).

      Substantial evidence supports the agency’s denial of CAT protection

because Costa Soares failed to show it is more likely than not he will be tortured

by or with the consent or acquiescence of the government if returned to Brazil.

Shrestha v. Holder, 590 F.3d 1034, 1048 (9th Cir. 2010). Petitioner points to

reports discussing violence in Brazilian prisons, but generalized evidence of

violence in a country is insufficient to prove that a specific individual faces a

likelihood of likelihood of torture. See Lalayan v. Garland, 4 F.4th 822, 840 (9th

Cir. 2021) (submitted country reports were insufficient to establish eligibility for

CAT relief because they did not indicate any particularized risk of torture).

      Petitioner’s reliance on this court’s decision in Guerra v. Barr, 974 F.3d 909

(9th Cir. 2020) is misplaced. There, the IJ found that petitioner was more likely

than not in danger of torture because substantial evidence in the record established

the “widespread abuse of individuals with mental illnesses in Mexican jails and

                                           2                                    21-70754
mental health facilities” and the “documented conditions in Mexico regarding the

discrimination against people with disabilities and treatment of those in criminal

custody and psychiatric institutions that qualifies as torture.” Id. at 911. Here the

IJ made no such finding. Under our deferential standard of review, Petitioner

cannot “show that the evidence not only supports, but compels the conclusion that

these findings and decisions are erroneous.” Plancarte Sauceda v. Garland, 23

F.4th 824, 831 (9th Cir. 2022) (quotation omitted). Accordingly, the BIA did not

err in dismissing his appeal.

      PETITION DISMISSED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

                                          3                                    21-70754