Forrester v. Attorney General

207 F. App'x 258
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedDecember 27, 2006
Docket05-1742
StatusUnpublished

This text of 207 F. App'x 258 (Forrester v. Attorney General) 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
Forrester v. Attorney General, 207 F. App'x 258 (3d Cir. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

CHAGARES, Circuit Judge.

Marcia Forrester is a Jamaican citizen who obtained lawful permanent resident status in 1992. Pursuant to the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) sought to deport Forrester in 2003 after she was convicted of narcotics trafficking. Forrester sought withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), because she fears persecution and torture upon removal to Jamaica on account of her sexual orientation. An Immigration Judge (IJ) denied Forrester’s application for withholding of removal, but granted a stay of removal pursuant to CAT. After a cross-appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed the IJ’s determination that Forrester was not eligible for withholding of removal, but reversed the IJ’s decision that Forrester was entitled to CAT relief. In this appeal, Forrester argues (i) that her due process rights were violated by the Attorney General’s determination that, as a convicted drug offender, she was presumptively removable; and (ii) that the BIA erred in overruling the IJ’s decision that she was entitled to CAT relief. Because Forrester’s due process rights were not violated and because the BIA’s denial of CAT relief was supported by substantial evidence, we will deny Forrester’s petition for review of the BIA’s decision.

I.

As we write only for the parties, our summary of the facts is brief. Forrester entered the United States illegally in 1979, but pursuant to a class action settlement, became a lawful permanent resident in December 1992. After encountering financial difficulties in 2001, Forrester began to work in a drug ring delivering cocaine. After delivering cocaine to undercover New York police officers, Forrester was arrested and convicted of unlawful sale of a controlled substance. Thereafter, on September 3, 2003, the INS sought to deport Forrester as an “aggravated felon” pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43). Forrester sought withholding of removal and, alternatively, a stay of removal under CAT.

In a hearing before the IJ in 2004, Forrester testified about her fear of persecution if she was deported to Jamaica. Specifically, Forrester testified that she had returned to Jamaica four times since she entered the United States. On one of these visits, Forrester took her then-significant other with her. While she and her significant other were parked near a beach, Forrester testified that locals threw stones at their car and chased them away. No such incidents occurred on any of Forrester’s other three visits to Jamaica. Forrester also testified that in Jamaica, homosexuals are “killed, they are tortured, humiliated, they go to prison.” When asked if she knew of any other homosexuals who had been victimized, Forrester testified that, when she was thirteen years old, she knew an older man who was beaten because he was suspected of engaging in a homosexual relationship with another man. When asked to describe her fear if she was removed to Jamaica, Forrester stated that she feared being raped, victimized, and humiliated by the locals and the police.

The IJ determined that Forrester was removable on the basis of her conviction, but held that Forrester was entitled to CAT relief. While the IJ conceded that “references of persecution against gays and homosexuals in Jamaica in the Department of State Country Reports is rather *260 scanty,” the IJ noted that he was taking “administrative notice of the intolerance of Jamaican society towards homosexuals.” The IJ further stated that he was “prepared to find a de facto government policy of permitting gay bashing throughout the country, with little or no legal consequences against either the citizens or officials, particularly police officers.” Accordingly, the IJ concluded that there was “almost a virtual certainty” that Forrester would suffer torture if she were returned to Jamaica on account of her sexual orientation. The IJ went on to say that Forrester had shown government acquiescence, because “by virtue of [Jamaican] laws, she would be criminalized if she is encountered in any manner by police, even as a victim, due to her sexual orientation.” Based on these assertions, the IJ granted Forrester CAT relief.

Both parties appealed. The BIA upheld the IJ’s decision denying withholding of removal, but reversed the IJ’s determination that Forrester was entitled to CAT relief. Regarding the CAT claim, the BIA determined that Forrester had not provided sufficient evidence that it was more likely than not that she would be tortured either by government authorities themselves or with their acquiescence. While the BIA acknowledged that the record contained evidence that “homosexuals in Jamaica experience discrimination, harassment, and violence,” it noted that there was no record evidence that the Jamaican government acquiesced to the torture of homosexuals. In reversing the IJ, the BIA concluded that “[a]bsent any clearly identifiable, commonly known facts or references to official documents, it was error for the Immigration Judge to take administrative notice and conclude that there was a de facto government policy of gay bashing throughout [Jamaica] with little or no legal consequences for the abusers or victims.”

On May 28, 2004, Forrester filed a. petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus, asking the District Court to overturn the BIA’s decision. The District Court denied Forrester’s petition on February 3, 2005, and affirmed the BIA. This appeal ensued. 1

II.

We exercise plenary review over the BIA’s legal determinations. Kamara v. Attorney General, 420 F.3d 202, 210 (3d Cir.2005). We review findings of fact under the “extremely deferential” substantial evidence standard. Chen v. Ashcroft, 376 F.3d 215, 223 (3d Cir.2004). We will not vacate the BIA’s factual findings unless “[a] reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.” Toure v. Attorney General, 443 F.3d 310, 316 (3d Cir.2006).

A.

Forrester argues that the BIA deprived her of due process by relying on the Attorney General’s decision in Matter of Y-L, *261 23 I & N Dec. 270, 2002 WL 358818 (A.G. 2002). Specifically, Forrester argues that this decision runs afoul of our decision in Chong v. District Director, 264 F.3d 378 (3d Cir.2001), in which we determined that due process forbids the BIA from “blindly following a categorical rule [that] all drug convictions qualify as ‘particularly serious crimes’ ” within the meaning of the INA. Id. at 387 (internal citations omitted). Chong

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Related

Francois v. Gonzales
448 F.3d 645 (Third Circuit, 2006)
Y-L
23 I. & N. Dec. 270 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
207 F. App'x 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/forrester-v-attorney-general-ca3-2006.