Anandarajah v. Attorney General of the United States

456 F. App'x 130
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedDecember 28, 2011
DocketNo. 11-1822
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 456 F. App'x 130 (Anandarajah v. Attorney General of the United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anandarajah v. Attorney General of the United States, 456 F. App'x 130 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Julian Rajanayagan Anandarajah (“An-andarajah”) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision denying his third motion to reopen removal proceedings. For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review.

Anandarajah, a native and citizen of Sri Lanka and an ethnic Tamil, petitioned for review of the Board’s original order affirming the Immigration Judge’s decision to deny his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In those applications, Anandarajah claimed a fear of persecution on the ground that the Sri Lankan government believes he is, or was, a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (“LTTE”). We denied the petition for review, concluding that substantial evidence supported the IJ’s determination that Anandarajah’s testimony was not credible. See Anandara-jah v. Att’y Gen. of U.S., 258 Fed.Appx. 495 (3d Cir.2007).

[132]*132On or about March 31, 2008, Anandara-jah filed his first motion to reopen with the Board to reapply for asylum on the basis of changed country conditions. Relying on the 2007 Country Report for Sri Lanka and other documentary evidence, Anandar-ajah contended generally that there had been a breakdown in the enforcement of the 2002 Cease-Fire Accord between government security forces and the LTTE, resulting in greater persecution of ethnic Tamils. He also contended that he would be detained upon his arrival at the Colum-bo airport and interrogated by Sri Lankan police as a failed Tamil asylum seeker.

On June 25, 2008, the Board denied the motion to reopen as untimely under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2) (providing for a 90-day deadline). The Board concluded that conditions in Sri Lanka material to Anan-darajah’s claim of persecution had not worsened, and thus the exception to timeliness did not apply, and his argument that he would be persecuted as a failed asylum seeker did not provide a basis for applying the exception to timeliness. Anandarajah petitioned for review, and, in his brief, he argued, among other things, that he would be persecuted and tortured in Sri Lanka as a failed asylum seeker. He further argued that the Board mischaracterized his failed asylum seeker argument by failing to adequately consider that the Sri Lankan government now considers all Tamils who have lived in the West to be LTTE sympathizers. We denied Anan-darajah’s petition for review in Anandara-jah v. Att’y Gen. of U.S., 352 Fed.Appx. 667 (3d Cir.2009) (per curiam), concluding that the Board did not abuse its discretion in determining that he failed to show changed country conditions sufficient to excuse the untimeliness of his motion to reopen. Moreover, we agreed with the Board that Anandarajah’s failed asylum seeker argument involved a change in personal circumstances — not a change in country conditions — and changed personal circumstances are insufficient to excuse an alien from the time limit on a motion to reopen. See id. at 672.

On December 11, 2009, Anandarajah filed a second motion to reopen with the Board. He presented evidence that his attorney, Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, is known internationally for his support of the LTTE, and he argued that he was in danger because of his attorney-client relationship with Rudrakumaran. He noted that, after our 2009 decision in his case became public, he was publically linked to Rudrakumaran. He had recently received a letter from his mother informing him that she had received an anonymous telephone call in which the caller inquired about him and Rudrakumaran. She believed the call originated at the Sri Lankan Defense Department. On January 29, 2010, the Board denied the motion to reopen as untimely and number-barred. The Board noted that the factual basis of Anandarajah’s claim for asylum had previously been rejected as not credible, and then rejected his motion to reopen because it proceeded as if his prior claims had been accepted as true. Anandarajah petitioned for review at C.A. No. 10-1498, but the petition was proeedurally terminated at his request after we denied his motion for a stay of removal.

At issue now, on September 15, 2010, Anandarajah filed a third motion to reopen with the Board, once again seeking an exemption from the time and number limits on the basis of changed country conditions. This motion advanced the same arguments as the second motion to reopen, in that Anandarajah once again claimed that Rudrakumaran is a known LTTE sympathizer, and thus he (Anandarajah) is in danger because of his association with Rudrakumaran. Again he contended that the Sri Lankan Defense authorities had [133]*133been in touch with his mother and she was interrogated by gunmen about his involvement with Rudrakumaran. Anandarajah attached to the motion essentially the same substantive evidence as in his previous motion, including an affidavit from his mother, letters from Sri Lankan parliamentarians, letters from family and friends, and articles concerning Rudraku-maran.

On March 4, 2011, the Board denied the motion as untimely and number-barred, see 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c). The Board noted that it had previously affirmed the IJ’s adverse credibility determination, and had denied Anan-darajah’s two previous motions to reopen as untimely and/or number-barred. In both of his previous motions to reopen, Anandarajah had failed to demonstrate changed circumstances in Sri Lanka that were material to his asylum claim, and, in the most recent (third) motion, he had once again failed to rebut the IJ’s original adverse credibility determination. The Board listed Anandarajah’s evidence of changed country conditions, and specifically described his mother’s statement, but, it held that, in view of the IJ’s findings, including the adverse credibility finding, the new evidence did not demonstrate meaningfully changed conditions in Sri Lanka.

Anandarajah petitions for review of the Board’s March 4, 2011 decision. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), (b)(1). In his brief, in pertinent part, he contends that the Board erred in denying his motion to reopen on the basis of an adverse credibility determination that related to his past experiences only, and that the Board’s finding that there has been no material change in country conditions in Sri Lanka since 2005 is not supported by substantial evidence.1

We will deny the petition for review. The Board did not abuse its discretion in denying Anandarajah’s third motion to reopen. Immigration & Naturalization Serv. v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 323, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992); Sevoian v. Ashcroft, 290 F.3d 166, 174 (3d Cir.2002).

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Related

Anandarajah v. Attorney General of the United States
545 F. App'x 131 (Third Circuit, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
456 F. App'x 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anandarajah-v-attorney-general-of-the-united-states-ca3-2011.