Court Opinion

ID: 9962243
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-23 14:00:37.427262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:09.304401
License: Public Domain

21-6606
     Acero-Guaman v. Garland
                                                                                     BIA
                                                                                Leeds, IJ
                                                                             A202 066 872

                         UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                             FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

                               SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY
ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF
APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY
ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL
APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY
CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY
COUNSEL.

 1         At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
 2   Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley
 3   Square, in the City of New York, on the 23rd day of April, two thousand
 4   twenty-four.
 5
 6   PRESENT:
 7                  GUIDO CALABRESI,
 8                  JOSEPH F. BIANCO,
 9                  MYRNA PÉREZ,
10                    Circuit Judges.
11   _____________________________________
12
13   JESSICA MARIBEL ACERO-GUAMAN,
14            Petitioner,
15
16                  v.                                             21-6606
17                                                                 NAC
18   MERRICK B. GARLAND, UNITED
19   STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL,
20              Respondent.
21   _____________________________________
22
23   FOR PETITIONER:                    Michael Borja, Esq., Borja Law Firm, P.C.,
24                                      Jackson Heights, NY.
25   FOR RESPONDENT:                    Brian Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant
 1                                       Attorney General; Carl McIntyre, Assistant
 2                                       Director; Gregory A. Pennington, Jr., Trial
 3                                       Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation,
 4                                       United States Department of Justice,
 5                                       Washington, DC.

 6         UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a Board of

 7   Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND

 8   DECREED that the petition for review is DENIED.

 9         Petitioner Jessica Maribel Acero-Guaman, a native and citizen of Ecuador,

10   seeks review of an October 22, 2021, decision of the BIA affirming a December 6,

11   2018, decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying her application for asylum,

12   withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture

13   (“CAT”). In re Jessica Maribel Acero-Guaman, No. A 202 066 872 (B.I.A. Oct. 22,

14   2021), aff’g No. A 202 066 872 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Dec. 6, 2018). We assume the

15   parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history.

16         We have reviewed the IJ’s decision “as modified by” the BIA, i.e., minus the

17   grounds for the decision that the BIA declined to reach. Xue Hong Yang v. U.S.

18   Dep’t of Just., 426 F.3d 520, 522 (2d Cir. 2005). We review legal conclusions de

19   novo and findings of fact for substantial evidence. Singh v. Garland, 11 F.4th 106,

20   113 (2d Cir. 2021). “[T]he administrative findings of fact are conclusive unless

                                              2
 1   any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the

 2   contrary.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B).      We deny the petition because Acero-

 3   Guaman’s arguments here are unexhausted.

 4         I.     Asylum and Withholding of Removal

 5         An applicant for asylum or withholding of removal has the burden to show

 6   either past persecution or a fear of future persecution and that “race, religion,

 7   nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion was or

 8   will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant.” 8 U.S.C.

 9   § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i); see also id. § 1231(b)(3)(A); 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.13(b)(1), 1208.16(b);

10   Quituizaca v. Garland, 52 F.4th 103, 109–14 (2d Cir. 2022) (concluding that the BIA’s

11   application of the “one central reason” standard to both asylum and withholding

12   of removal “relie[d] on statutory interpretation principles and [was] supported by

13   practical considerations”). To constitute persecution, the harm suffered or feared

14   must be by the government or by private actors that the government is unable or

15   unwilling to control. See Scarlett v. Barr, 957 F.3d 316, 331 (2d Cir. 2020) (“[A]n

16   applicant seeking to establish persecution based on [the] violent conduct of a

17   private actor . . . must show that the government [1] condoned the private actions

18   or [2] at least demonstrated a complete helplessness to protect the victims.”

                                                3
 1   (alterations in original) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

 2         Exhaustion of issues and claims before the BIA is mandatory, although

 3   “subject to waiver and forfeiture.” Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, 598 U.S. 411, 423

 4   (2023); see also Ud Din v. Garland, 72 F.4th 411, 419–20 & n.2 (2d Cir. 2023)

 5   (explaining that issue exhaustion is a mandatory claim-processing rule “that a

 6   court must enforce. . . if a party properly raises it” (citation and quotation marks

 7   omitted)). Acero-Guaman argues for the first time on appeal that she qualifies

 8   for asylum and withholding of removal because of her membership in the

 9   particular social group of “Ecuadorian women unable to leave their relationship.”

10   We do not reach this social group claim because she did not raise it before the

11   agency and the Government argues that it is unexhausted. Santos-Zacaria, 598

12   U.S. at 423; Ud Din, 72 F.4th at 419–20 & n.2. Acero-Guaman has not otherwise

13   challenged the agency’s dispositive determination that she did not establish a

14   nexus between the harm she suffered and her indigenous ethnicity; thus, she has

15   abandoned that basis for relief. See Yueqing Zhang v. Gonzales, 426 F.3d 540, 541

16   n.1, 545 n.7 (2d Cir. 2005) (“Issues not sufficiently argued in the briefs are

17   considered waived and normally will not be addressed on appeal.” (quoting

18   Norton v. Sam’s Club, 145 F.3d 114, 117 (2d Cir. 1998))).

                                               4
 1         II.    CAT Relief

 2         Acero-Guaman argues that the IJ applied the wrong standard to her CAT

 3   claim. However, she did not meaningfully challenge the IJ’s denial of her CAT

 4   claim on appeal to the BIA, and the BIA found it waived. Accordingly, the CAT

5    claim is unexhausted and not properly before us. See Ud Din, 72 F.4th at 419–20

 6   & n.2; Quituizaca, 52 F.4th at 116 (“We require the [p]etitioner to raise issues to the

 7   BIA in order to preserve them for judicial review.” (alteration in original) (citation

 8   and quotation marks omitted)).       Moreover, she has not challenged the BIA’s

 9   waiver finding, which is the only basis for challenging the CAT claim in this Court.

10   See Pomavilla-Zaruma v. Garland, 81 F.4th 145, 152 (2d Cir. 2023) (“When the BIA

11   declines to consider an issue because it is waived, this Court’s review is limited to

12   whether the BIA erred in deeming the argument waived.” (citation and quotation

13   marks omitted)).

14         For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is DENIED. All pending

15   motions and applications are DENIED and stays VACATED.

16                                                    FOR THE COURT:
17                                                    Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe,
18                                                    Clerk of Court

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