Court Opinion

ID: 9942934
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-22 15:01:20.104937+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:45:38.654136
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 23-12233   Document: 28-1      Date Filed: 02/22/2024    Page: 1 of 3

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                   In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                          ____________________

                                No. 23-12233
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       SALVADOR CANAS-RIVAS,
                                                               Petitioner,
       versus
       U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,

                                                              Respondent.

                          ____________________

                   Petition for Review of a Decision of the
                        Board of Immigration Appeals
                          Agency No. A208-558-070
                          ____________________
USCA11 Case: 23-12233      Document: 28-1     Date Filed: 02/22/2024     Page: 2 of 3

       2                      Opinion of the Court                 23-12233

       Before BRASHER, ABUDU, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges
       PER CURIAM:
               Salvador Canas-Rivas petitions for review of the decision of
       an immigration judge (“IJ”) denying his application for asylum,
       withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (“CAT”)
       relief, which the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed
       without opinion.
              Where the BIA affirms the IJ’s decision without opinion, we
       review the IJ’s decision as the final agency decision. Sepulveda v.
       U.S. Att’y Gen., 401 F.3d 1226, 1230 (11th Cir. 2005). We review the
       agency’s legal conclusions de novo and the agency’s factual findings
       under the substantial evidence test. Perez-Zenteno v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
       913 F.3d 1301, 1306 (11th Cir. 2019).
               We deem issues not raised in the petitioner’s appellate brief
       to be abandoned. Ruga v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 757 F.3d 1193, 1196 (11th
       Cir. 2014). We have “long held that [the petitioner] abandons a
       claim when he either makes only passing references to it or raises
       it in a perfunctory manner without supporting arguments and au-
       thority.” Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 681
       (11th Cir. 2014). Abandoned issues “have no bearing on our deci-
       sion.” Ruga, 757 F.3d at 1196.
              Here, while Canas-Rivas’s brief argues generally that he is
       eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection,
       he fails to mention, let alone challenge, the actual grounds upon
USCA11 Case: 23-12233    Document: 28-1   Date Filed: 02/22/2024   Page: 3 of 3

       23-12233             Opinion of the Court                    3

       which the IJ denied those claims. Accordingly, he has abandoned
       any challenge to the agency’s denial of his claims.
             PETITION DENIED.