Court Opinion

ID: 9905745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-30 01:02:42.393316+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:52.331772
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60313        Document: 00516982808             Page: 1      Date Filed: 11/29/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________                              United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit

                                                                                      FILED
                                      No. 23-60313                            November 29, 2023
                                    Summary Calendar
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                    ____________
                                                                                      Clerk
   Muhammad Mushtaq,

                                                                                 Petitioner,

                                            versus

   Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,

                                                                               Respondent.
                     ______________________________

                        Petition for Review of an Order of the
                            Board of Immigration Appeals
                              Agency No. A208 719 346
                     ______________________________

   Before Barksdale, Graves, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Muhammad Mushtaq, a native and citizen of Pakistan, petitions for
   review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order upholding the
   denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. (As in the
   BIA, no claim is premised on the Convention Against Torture.)

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-60313        Document: 00516982808        Page: 2   Date Filed: 11/29/2023

                                    No. 23-60313

           Because the BIA’s decision is reviewed for substantial evidence,
   “reversal is improper unless we decide not only that the evidence supports a
   contrary conclusion, but [also] that the evidence compels it”. Zhang v.
   Gonzales, 432 F.3d 339, 344 (5th Cir. 2005) (alteration and emphasis in
   original) (citation omitted). The BIA concluded Mushtaq did not show the
   requisite nexus between the alleged harm and a statutorily protected ground.
   See, e.g., Vazquez-Guerra v. Garland, 7 F.4th 265, 269 (5th Cir. 2021)
   (explaining protected ground “cannot be incidental, tangential, superficial,
   or subordinate to another reason for harm” (citation omitted)). In this
   instance, the BIA noted the harm suffered and feared by Mushtaq resulted
   from a land dispute, not political or religious affiliation. The evidence does
   not compel the requisite contrary conclusion, accordingly the asylum and
   withholding-of-removal claims fail.
           For the other presented claim in this petition for review, Mushtaq did
   not exhaust his claim that counsel was not permitted to develop his
   contentions. Because the Government raises exhaustion, our court will
   enforce this claim-processing rule and decline to consider this claim. See
   Munoz-De Zelaya v. Garland, 80 F.4th 689, 694 (5th Cir. 2023) (declining to
   reach unexhausted claims); cf. Carreon v. Garland, 71 F.4th 247, 256–57 (5th
   Cir. 2023) (concluding Government forfeited exhaustion contention by
   failing to raise it).
           DENIED.

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