Ibrahim v. Attorney General of the United States

418 F. App'x 121
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 18, 2011
DocketNo. 10-1713
StatusPublished

This text of 418 F. App'x 121 (Ibrahim 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
Ibrahim v. Attorney General of the United States, 418 F. App'x 121 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Wagdy Ibrahim, a native and citizen of Egypt, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his applications for relief from removal. For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review.1

Ibrahim came to the United States in 1995 at the age of 15 as a lawful permanent resident. The Department of Homeland Security issued a notice to appear in 2008 charging that Ibrahim was subject to removal from the United States because he had been convicted of violating a law related to a controlled substance. The IJ found Ibrahim removable as charged. Through counsel, Ibrahim applied for cancellation of removal, which was denied.

During his hearing before the IJ, Ibrahim raised the possibility of persecution in Egypt on account of his Coptic Christian religion. Ibrahim had not applied for asylum or withholding of removal, but the IJ stated that if Ibrahim filed a timely motion to reopen with an asylum application, he would reopen the proceedings. Ibrahim did so, but the IJ denied reopening. On appeal, the BIA reopened the proceedings and remanded the record for a hearing on Ibrahim’s application for asylum and withholding of removal.

On remand,2 the IJ precluded Ibrahim from pursuing an additional ground for asylum based on his alleged membership in a particular social group of persons who had controlled substance convictions. Because Ibrahim presented his claim on the day of his merits hearing, the IJ did not allow him to pursue relief on this basis.

[123]*123Regarding Ibrahim’s religious persecution claim, the IJ decided that Ibrahim had testified credibly but he did not establish past persecution on account of his Coptic Christian religion. The IJ noted that Ibrahim only testified to discrimination when he lived in Egypt. The IJ also decided that Ibrahim did not establish a well-founded fear of persecution. The IJ believed that Ibrahim had a subjective fear of persecution and stated that the background evidence indicated that a possibility of persecution exists. The IJ explained, however, that Ibrahim’s expert, Dr. Paul Marshall, testified that Coptic Christians generally suffer governmental and societal discrimination and harassment by Islamic extremists. The IJ recognized that Marshall testified that authorities would question Ibrahim upon his return to Egypt because he would not have a passport or identity document, but the IJ stated that Marshall could not say with any specificity what would happen to Ibrahim.

In concluding that Ibrahim failed to produce sufficient objective evidence showing a reasonable possibility that he would suffer religious persecution, the IJ noted Marshall’s testimony that, if Ibrahim was detained and government officials discovered that he was a Coptic Christian, his religion in and of itself would not give rise to any significant harm. The IJ also noted Marshall’s statements that Ibrahim’s religion would be an “aggravating factor” along with his United States military service and his criminal record, and that, if these facts were discovered, Ibrahim would likely be detained overnight, interrogated, verbally accosted, and perhaps hit. Although the IJ noted that Marshall testified that Ibrahim could be detained for a longer period and perhaps suffer additional physical mistreatment if he remained of interest to security officials, the IJ stated Marshall did not testify that Ibrahim would be tortured and emphasized that Marshall did not know of anyone who had returned to Egypt and had been detained, with the exception of persons who had converted from Islam to Christianity. Even if Ibrahim was detained as Marshall predicted, the IJ concluded Ibrahim had not shown that his treatment would rise to the level of persecution.

In addition to concluding that Ibrahim failed to meet his burden of proof for asylum and withholding of removal, the IJ decided Ibrahim did not satisfy his burden of proof for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The IJ recognized that the background evidence indicated that the government engages in torture, but she stated that there was no evidence showing that Ibrahim would be of interest to authorities or that authorities would have the specific intent to torture him. The IJ reiterated that Marshall was unable to provide an example of someone similarly situated to Ibrahim who had been harmed upon his return to Egypt.

The BIA dismissed Ibrahim’s appeal. The BIA agreed with the IJ that Ibrahim failed to establish past persecution on account of his religion and noted that Ibrahim did not challenge that ruling on appeal. The BIA also rejected Ibrahim’s argument that the IJ erred in refusing to allow him to submit evidence showing that his drug conviction would subject him to increased scrutiny upon entering Egypt, which would increase the likelihood that he would be identified as a Coptic Christian and persecuted. The BIA found it was not improper for the IJ to reject Ibrahim’s last-minute attempt to amend his claim at his hearing to include a fear of persecution on account of his status as a criminal deportee. The BIA also noted that the IJ assessed Ibrahim’s religious persecution claim in conjunction with his experiences in the United States, including the fact that he has a criminal conviction.

[124]*124The BIA also found an unpublished decision relied upon by Ibrahim, in which the BIA granted an Egyptian criminal deportee deferral of removal, distinguishable because the experts in that case had testified that there was a high likelihood of torture, an opinion not provided in Ibrahim’s case. Noting that Marshall found the probability of harm to Ibrahim unclear, the BIA found no error in the IJ’s decision that Ibrahim did not meet his burden of establishing a well-founded fear of future persecution. The BIA also found that Ibrahim did not establish that it was more likely than not that he would be tortured if removed to Egypt. This petition for review followed.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a). Because Ibrahim is removable for violating a law related to a controlled substance, our jurisdiction is limited to reviewing constitutional claims and questions of law, which include questions of the application of law to fact, where the facts are undisputed. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(C); Kamara v. Att’y Gen., 420 F.3d 202, 211 (3d Cir.2005).

Ibrahim argues that he satisfied his burden of proof to establish that he has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of his religion if removed to Egypt.3 We review the BIA’s conclusion that Ibrahim failed to satisfy his burden of proof under the substantial evidence standard of review, which requires that we uphold the decision of the BIA unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. Abdille v. Ashcroft, 242 F.3d 477, 483-84 (3d Cir.2001).

Ibrahim contends that he satisfied his burden of proof with a “plethora of articles and country reports,” Pet’r’s Br. at 23, but he has not discussed any specific evidence from the background materials supporting his claim.

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418 F. App'x 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ibrahim-v-attorney-general-of-the-united-states-ca3-2011.