NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 10-1137
___________
OCTAVIO LUIS RAMIREZ,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
____________________________________
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
(Agency No. A029-589-447)
Immigration Judge: Honorable Jeffrey L. Romig
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
January 3, 2011
Before: AMBRO, HARDIMAN AND STAPLETON, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: February 10, 2011)
___________
OPINION
___________
PER CURIAM
Petitioner Octavio Ramirez petitions for review of the December 28, 2009
decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) to dismiss his appeal and affirm
the Immigration Judge’s denial of his application for deferral of removal under the
1
Convention Against Torture. The Government has moved to dismiss the petition for lack
of jurisdiction. For the reasons that follow, we will grant in part and deny in part the
Government’s motion to dismiss. To the extent that we have jurisdiction, we will deny
Ramirez’s petition for review.
I.
Ramirez, a native of Nicaragua, was admitted to the United States as a lawful
permanent resident of the United States in 2000. In 2002, Ramirez pleaded guilty in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida of conspiracy to import
five kilograms or more of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963.1 Based on his
conviction, the Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings
against Ramirez pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) (conviction of an aggravated
felony) and 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(B) (conviction of a controlled substance violation).
Ramirez, proceeding pro se, conceded removability and filed an application for
asylum, withholding of removal, and for deferral of removal under the Convention
Against Torture (“CAT”).2 The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) held that because Ramirez had
been convicted of a felony relating to a drug trafficking crime, he was not eligible for
asylum under INA § 208(b)(2)(B)(i). The IJ further held that because the conviction
involved more than a five-year sentence, the conviction was a “particularly serious
1
Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to 135 months of imprisonment and is
currently in federal custody serving that sentence.
2
Venue was changed from Florida to Pennsylvania in January 2008 and removal
proceedings were completed in York, Pennsylvania.
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crime” which rendered him ineligible for withholding of removal under INA §
241(b)(3)(B)(ii). The IJ denied relief with respect to Ramirez’s remaining request for
deferral of deportation under CAT because he concluded Ramirez had not met his burden
of proof.
Ramirez’s claim under the CAT is based primarily on his testimony and that of his
former attorney that he provided information to a prosecutor for the government of
Nicaragua concerning Arnoldo Aleman, the former president of Nicaragua. Aleman was
convicted of money laundering and corruption and sentenced to a 20-year term of
imprisonment beginning in December 2003. The sentence was commuted in 2005 due to
Aleman’s poor health. Ramirez believes that Aleman, or persons associated with him,
will seek vengeance against Ramirez if he returns to Nicaragua. In denying his CAT
claim, the IJ found that Ramirez established a subjectively genuine fear of returning to
Nicaragua based on his having served as an informant against the former President, but
had failed to show a “clear probability” of torture in the event of his return to Nicaragua.
Ramirez appealed the IJ’s decision to the BIA. The BIA conducted a de novo
review of the IJ’s application of law to the facts, and affirmed the IJ’s conclusion that
Ramirez failed to establish that he would more likely than not face torture by, or with the
acquiescence of, a member of the government of Nicaragua. Ramirez then filed the
instant petition for review. The Government filed a motion to dismiss the petition for
lack of jurisdiction.
II.
3
Although we generally lack jurisdiction to review final orders of removal against
aliens who, like Ramirez, are removable for having committed an aggravated felony, see
8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(C), we nonetheless have jurisdiction to review “pure
questions of law” and “issues of application of law to fact, where the facts are undisputed
and not the subject of challenge.” Kamara v. Att'y Gen., 420 F.3d 202, 211 (3d Cir.
2005) (quotation marks and citations omitted); see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D). We review
such questions of law de novo. Kamara, 420 F.3d at 211.
The Government argues that dismissal is warranted here because Ramirez does not
raise any legal questions. We disagree. His petition alleges that the IJ erred as a matter
of law in relying on In re J-F-F-, 23 I. & N. Dec. 912, 917-18 (AG 2006), to deny his
claim under the CAT. He also argues that the IJ and the BIA misapplied the CAT
standard to the undisputed facts of this case.3
III.
An alien seeking relief under the CAT must demonstrate that it is “more likely
than not” that he will be tortured in the event of return to a designated country. 8 C.F.R.
§ 1208.16(c)(2). The applicant must show that the torture will be inflicted “by or at the
3
Ramirez claims that the IJ improperly failed to consider whether the Nicaraguan
government would acquiesce to his torture, and that the United States government
breached its agreement to protect him as a witness. Because Ramirez’s CAT
claim was denied on other grounds, these arguments were not reached by the
agency and need not be addressed here. Furthermore, to the extent that these are
claims “that an Immigration Judge or the BIA incorrectly weighed evidence, failed
to consider evidence or improperly weighed equitable factors,” they are not
questions of law that we have jurisdiction to review under § 1252(a)(2)(D).
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instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person
acting in an official capacity.” 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.18(a)(1), (7); see also Silva-Rengifo v.
Att’y Gen., 473 F.3d 58, 70 (3d Cir. 2007). In assessing whether the applicant has met
this burden of proof, the agency must consider all evidence relevant to the possibility of
future torture. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(3).
Ramirez argues that the IJ erred as a matter of law by placing too much emphasis
on the decision of In re J-F-F-, in which the Attorney General stated that a petitioner may
not establish a claim for CAT relief merely by stringing together a series of suppositions
to show that it is more likely than not that torture will result where the evidence does not
establish that each step in the hypothetical chain of events is more likely than not to
occur. 23 I. & N. Dec. 912, 917-18 (AG 2006). We disagree. See, e.g., Savchuck v.
Mukasey, 518 F.3d 119, 123-24 (2d Cir. 2008). The IJ committed no legal error in
analyzing Ramirez’s CAT claim as a series of hypothetical events (e.g., that Aleman will
seek vengeance against him based on his cooperation, and that the Nicaraguan
government would acquiesce in this). 4 The IJ evaluated each of Ramirez’s suppositions
Jarbough v. Att’y Gen., 483 F.3d 184, 189 (3d Cir. 2007).
4
We note that Ramirez argued before the IJ that certain segments of Nicaraguan
society already knew that he had offered information to be used against Aleman. In
support of this contention, Ramirez offered evidence that a Nicaraguan journalist had
earlier attempted to communicate with him to ask about the same. Thus, the
allegation that his cooperation was already known to at least some Nicaraguans is not
properly characterized as a hypothetical or contingent event. However, the IJ’s
approach concerning the remainder of Ramirez’s claim – that Aleman or his
supporters are likely to kill him because of this cooperation, and that the Nicaraguan
government would acquiesce – was correct.
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and concluded that he had not established that it is well known within Nicaragua that his
cooperation led to Aleman’s conviction, or that anyone in Nicaragua will seek to torture
him when he returns because of his cooperation; thus, he had not demonstrated a “clear
probability” of torture in Nicaragua.5
Further, the BIA applied the correct legal standard in its opinion dismissing
Ramirez’s appeal. The BIA properly reviewed the IJ’s factual findings for clear error and
conducted a de novo review of the IJ’s application of law to the facts. The BIA
determined that Ramirez failed to establish that he would “more likely than not” face
torture by or with the acquiescence of a member of the Nicaraguan government. The
BIA’s conclusion was based on the IJ’s factual findings that (1) Ramirez’s cooperation
with authorities occurred in 2004, after Aleman’s conviction in Nicaragua in 2003; (2)
there was insufficient evidence to establish that Ramirez’s cooperation had been made
public in Nicaragua; (3) there was no evidence that the Nicaraguan prosecutor used any
of the evidence provided by Ramirez in the prosecution of former President Aleman; (4)
there was no evidence that Ramirez had received threats from former President Aleman
or his associates; and (5) there was no indication that Aleman or anyone else would have
any interest in torturing him following his return. Having reviewed the record, we are
confident that the BIA considered all of the evidence and properly applied the CAT
standard.
5
The “clear probability standard” is equivalent to the “more likely than not
standard.” See Gomez-Zuluaga v. Att’y Gen., 527 F.3d 330, 349 (3d Cir. 2008).
6
IV.
We agree with the Government that we lack jurisdiction over the remainder of
Ramirez’s petition. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(C). Accordingly, we deny the petition to the
extent it argues that the IJ or the BIA misapplied the relevant legal standard to Ramirez’s
CAT claim, and dismiss the remainder of the petition.
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