Marzena Magdalena Bera v. Attorney General USA

555 F. App'x 129
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 2014
Docket13-2972
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 555 F. App'x 129 (Marzena Magdalena Bera v. Attorney General USA) 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
Marzena Magdalena Bera v. Attorney General USA, 555 F. App'x 129 (3d Cir. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Marzena Magdalena Bera (“Bera”) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (the “Board”) final order of removal. For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review.

I.

Petitioner Marzena Magdalena Bera, a citizen of Poland, entered the United States in September 2007. In September 2008, she applied for asylum but was referred to removal proceedings. The notice to appear charged her with being present in violation of the law, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B). She conceded removability and applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In support of her application, she claimed that she had been persecuted in Poland because she participated in the Solidarity Movement during the 1980s and because she is Jewish.

In an oral decision, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) determined that Bera was credible, but he concluded that the harassment and discrimination that she faced did not amount to past persecution. The IJ found that Bera had not established that she would face future persecution if she returned to Poland, especially in light of the evidence contained in the International Religious Freedom Report, which indicated that the Polish government was reaching out to the Jewish community to improve the quality of life. The IJ also determined that the Polish government was “ready, willing and able” to offer protection to Bera. On that basis, the IJ denied Bera’s asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT claims and ordered her removal to Poland.

Bera appealed to the Board, and then filed three motions to remand. In June 2013, the Board dismissed her appeal, after determining that Bera had not established that she suffered past persecution or that she had a well-founded fear of future persecution. The Board then agreed with the IJ’s conclusion that Bera had not established a clear probability of future persecution that would make her eligible for withholding of removal. Regarding her CAT claim, the Board found that Bera had not established that it was “ ‘more likely than not’ that she would be *131 subject to torture by, or with the consent or acquiescence of[,] a public official or other person acting in official capacity in Poland.” The Board lastly considered the additional evidence that Bera submitted alongside her motions to remand, and it determined that the evidence did not establish Bera’s prima facie eligibility for relief. 1 Bera, through counsel, filed a timely petition for review.

II.

We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. While our review extends only to the Board’s order of removal, we may review the decision of the IJ to the extent that the Board’s order expressly adopts or defers to a finding of the IJ. Kayembe v. Ashcroft, 334 F.3d 231, 234 (3d Cir.2003). “We apply substantial evidence review to agency findings of fact, departing from factual findings only where a reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to arrive at a contrary conclusion.” Mendez-Reyes v. Att’y Gen. of the U.S., 428 F.3d 187, 191 (3d Cir.2005). Our review of legal conclusions is de novo, subject to principles of deference. Kaplun v. Att’y Gen., 602 F.3d 260, 265 (3d Cir.2010). We review denials of motions to remand under a deferential abuse of discretion standard. See Huang v. Att’y Gen., 620 F.3d 372, 389-90 (3d Cir.2010).

III.

The Board denied Bera’s asylum claim after concluding that Bera had failed to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution. To establish past persecution, an alien must show that, on account of a statutorily protected ground, she suffered “threats to life, confinement, torture, and economic restrictions so severe that they constitute a real threat to life or freedom.” Chavarria v. Gonzalez, 446 F.3d 508, 518 (3d Cir.2006). Isolated incidents that do not result in serious injury are generally not considered examples of persecution. See Voci v. Gonzales, 409 F.3d 607, 615 (3d Cir.2005). Moreover, where an alien complains of threats, she must demonstrate that the threats are “highly imminent and menacing in nature,” so much so that they “cause significant actual ‘suffering or harm.’ ” Chavarria, 446 F.3d at 518.

At the merits hearing before the IJ, Bera testified that, as a result of her involvement with the Solidarity Movement, she was detained for a period of three days in 1982 and was legally unable to work or receive public assistance for the next eight years. Bera also testified to a number of anti-Semitic incidents leading up to and following her 2006 conversion to Judaism. Her husband, in-laws, and children responded with verbal abuse and disapproval. Soon after Bera’s conversion, she was terminated from her municipal teaching job, though she did receive a pension within several months. At various times prior to her arrival in the United States, she was harassed by strangers, including incidents where “skinheads” confronted her on the street, unknown people imprinted nearly 50 Stars of David on the sidewalk in front of her home, counter-protesters threw tomatoes and garbage at her during a Parade for Equality, and passengers twice yelled at her while she read the Talmud and a Hebrew prayer book on the train. She also had a difficult time finding an *132 apartment after divorcing her husband. At some point, Leszek Bubel, a well-known leader of the anti-Semitic Polish National Party, published Bera’s name in a book called the Great Encyclopedia of Jews. After she left Poland, she sublet her apartment to two Jewish friends who were later evicted, and Bera’s possessions, including Judaica, were then destroyed by the landlord. However, Bera reported none of these incidents to the police or other authorities.

Bera’s past experiences are troublesome but they fall short of past persecution. When she was arrested for three days in the 1980s, she was not mistreated or otherwise harmed. See Kibinda v. Att’y Gen., 477 F.3d 113, 119-20 (3d Cir.2007) (stating that a five-day detention and beating that required stitches and left a scar were not “severe enough to constitute persecution under our stringent standard”).

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Related

Marzena Bera v. Attorney General United States
596 F. App'x 69 (Third Circuit, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
555 F. App'x 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marzena-magdalena-bera-v-attorney-general-usa-ca3-2014.