FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JAN 14 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
YAGYA MURTI BHANDARI, Nos. 06-74713, 07-70800
Petitioner, Agency No. A098-950-720
v.
MEMORANDUM *
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted December 10, 2010
Pasadena, California
Before: PREGERSON and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and HOLLAND, Senior
District Judge.**
Petitioner Yagya Murti Bhandari, a native and citizen of Nepal, seeks review
of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order dated August 31, 2006, which
adopted and affirmed the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) decision to deny Bhandari
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable H. Russel Holland, Senior United States District Judge
for the District of Alaska, sitting by designation.
asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against
Torture (CAT). In addition, Bhandari appeals the BIA’s order dated January 30,
2007, which denied his motion to reopen, and he requests we take judicial notice of
materials not included in the administrative record. Because the pertinent facts and
procedural history are familiar to the parties, we recite them here only as necessary
to explain our decision. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1).
We deny Bhandari’s petition and application for judicial notice.
First, Bhandari presents neither the “existence of changed circumstances”
material to his application nor any extraordinary justification to excuse exceeding
the one-year filing deadline for asylum set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B). See
Taslimi v. Holder, 590 F.3d 981, 984 (9th Cir. 2010). The increased influence of
Maoists in Nepal, their harassing and violent behavior, and the targeting of
Bhandari’s business—factors which Petitioner proffers to excuse his delay—all
existed prior to Bhandari’s arrival in America. Likewise, the 2005 Country Report,
on which Bhandari relies heavily, indicates that the Maoist insurgency “intensified
since its inception in 1996”—eight years before Bhandari left Nepal. While
Bhandari also urges us to consider the 2006 Country Report, it is not part of the
Administrative Record and is not properly before us. See Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d
2
955, 963 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc). Accordingly, we find no error in the IJ’s
determination that Bhandari’s asylum claim was untimely.
Turning to the merits of Bhandari’s request for withholding of removal, we
likewise find no error on the part of the IJ. Even assuming that Bhandari’s
family’s democratic values, high social caste, and Hinduism constituted a “social
group” for purposes of 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(b)(1)(i), Molina-Estrada v. INS, 293 F.3d
1089, 1095 (9th Cir. 2002), the evidence fails to show that his family was singled
out for persecution by the Maoists. Although the bombing of a bus owned by
Bhandari appears at first blush to be evidence of persecution, the record reveals
that the bus was targeted because it was operated in defiance of a general strike,
not because of any traits particular to Petitioner. Bhandari’s plans to return to
Nepal, his sending his family back to that country, and his testimony that Maoist
threats were not directed toward him do not compel us to conclude that he
subjectively feared future persecution. See id. at 1093, 1095-96.
Although Bhandari claims he is entitled to CAT relief because he was
“subjected to the most unimaginable mental torture which resulted in long term
medical treatment for him and forced him to stay away from his family for the last
two and a half years,” the record reveals neither torture nor acquiescence by the
Nepalese government. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.18(a)(1); Zheng v. Ashcroft, 332 F.3d
3
1186, 1194 (9th Cir. 2003). The evidence shows that while the Maoists
occasionally attempted to extort money from business owners, Bhandari never
sought government assistance to remedy this problem. Accordingly, the IJ
correctly denied CAT relief.
Finally, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying Bhandari’s motion to
reopen. Although Bhandari timely raised the issue before the BIA, the evidence he
proffered in support of the claim failed to show how his attorney’s purported
ineffective assistance affected the outcome of his case. See Rojas-Garcia v.
Ashcroft, 339 F.3d 814, 826 (9th Cir. 2003).
For the foregoing reasons, we deny Bhandari’s petition for review. We also
deny his request that we take judicial notice of certain materials outside the
administrative record.
PETITION DENIED.
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