Lin Wei v. Holder

08-5988-ag Wei v. Holder BIA Abrams, IJ A099 535 491 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO SUMMARY ORDERS FILED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1 AND FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1. IN A BRIEF OR OTHER PAPER IN WHICH A LITIGANT CITES A SUMMARY ORDER, IN EACH PARAGRAPH IN WHICH A CITATION APPEARS, AT LEAST ONE CITATION MUST EITHER BE TO THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE NOTATION: “(SUMMARY ORDER).” A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF THAT SUMMARY ORDER TOGETHER WITH THE PAPER IN WHICH THE SUMMARY ORDER IS CITED ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL UNLESS THE SUMMARY ORDER IS AVAILABLE IN AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE WHICH IS PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WITHOUT PAYMENT OF FEE (SUCH AS THE DATABASE AVAILABLE AT HTTP://WWW.CA2.USCOURTS.GOV/). IF NO COPY IS SERVED BY REASON OF THE AVAILABILITY OF THE ORDER ON SUCH A DATABASE, THE CITATION MUST INCLUDE REFERENCE TO THAT DATABASE AND THE DOCKET NUMBER OF THE CASE IN WHICH THE ORDER WAS ENTERED. 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the 30 th day of December, two thousand nine. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., 8 ROBERT A. KATZMANN, 9 DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 ______________________________________ 12 13 LIN WEI, a.k.a. WEI LIN, 14 Petitioner, 15 16 v. 08-5988-ag 17 NAC 18 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES 19 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 1 20 Respondent. 21 ______________________________________ 1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2), Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., is automatically substituted for former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey as respondent in this case. 1 FOR PETITIONER: Oleh R. Tustaniwsky, Hualian Law 2 Offices, New York, New York. 3 4 FOR RESPONDENT: Tony West, Assistant Attorney 5 General; Jennifer L. Lightbody, 6 Senior Litigation Counsel; Edward E. 7 Wiggers, Trial Attorney, Office of 8 Immigration Litigation, United 9 States Department of Justice, 10 Washington, D.C. 11 12 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a 13 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby 14 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED, that the petition for review 15 is DENIED. 16 Lin Wei, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic 17 of China, seeks review of a November 12, 2008 order of the 18 BIA affirming the January 8, 2007 decision of Immigration 19 Judge (“IJ”) Steven R. Abrams, which denied his application 20 for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the 21 Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In re Lin Wei a.k.a. 22 Wei Lin, No. A099 535 491 (B.I.A. Nov. 12, 2008), aff’g No. 23 A099 535 491 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Jan. 8, 2007). We assume 24 the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and 25 procedural history in this case. 26 Under the circumstances of this case, we consider both 27 the IJ’s and the BIA’s opinions “for the sake of 28 completeness.” See Zaman v. Mukasey, 514 F.3d 233, 237 (2d 2 1 Cir. 2008). The applicable standards of review are well- 2 established. See Salimatou Bah v. Mukasey, 529 F.3d 99, 110 3 (2d Cir. 2008); Manzur v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 494 4 F.3d 281, 289 (2d Cir. 2007). 5 Because Wei failed to exhaust before the agency his 6 argument that the agency erred by not considering his 7 eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal as a 8 member of the social group of victims of domestic abuse, we 9 do not address it. See Lin Zhong v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 10 480 F.3d 104, 120-22 (2d Cir. 2007). Wei does not challenge 11 the agency’s dispositive finding that the discrimination he 12 allegedly suffered did not rise to the level of persecution, 13 and that even if it did, it was not on account of a 14 protected ground. Accordingly he has waived any such 15 challenge. See Yueqing Zhang v. Gonzales, 426 F.3d 540, 545 16 n.7 (2d Cir. 2005). In addition, Wei did not challenge the 17 denial of his request for CAT relief either before the BIA 18 or this Court, abandoning that claim. See Gui Yin Liu v. 19 INS, 508 F.3d 716, 723 n.6 (2d Cir. 2007). 20 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is 21 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of 22 removal that the Court previously granted in this petition 3 1 is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in 2 this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for 3 oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with 4 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second 5 Circuit Local Rule 34(b). 6 FOR THE COURT: 7 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 8 9 By:___________________________ 4