Julio Bedoya Guerra v. Attorney General United States


NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT __________ No. 20-3489 __________ JULIO CESAR BEDOYA GUERRA, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA __________ On Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. BIA-1: A201-939-474) Immigration Judge: Pallavi S. Shirole __________ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) on April 1, 2022 Before: RESTREPO, ROTH, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: June 14, 2022) __________ OPINION* __________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. FUENTES, Circuit Judge. Julio Cesar Bedoya Guerra (“Bedoya”), a native and citizen of Colombia, conceded his removability from the United States but applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denied Bedoya’s applications for relief, and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissed his appeal. Bedoya now petitions this Court for review. Because we see no error in the BIA’s decision, we will deny the petition. I. Bedoya entered the United States in April 2019 on a temporary visitor visa. When the visa expired six months later, he failed to leave the country. In January 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) served Bedoya with a Notice to Appear charging him as removable from the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B) for “remain[ing] . . . for a time longer than permitted.”1 Bedoya appeared before an IJ and admitted the charge. He expressed a fear of returning to Colombia, however, so the IJ continued the hearing to allow him to apply for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection. Bedoya so applied and later testified in support of his application at an evidentiary hearing. He testified that, in Colombia, he worked as a commercial advisor for a car dealership. In November 2018, a man named Juan Perez approached him and proposed that the two go into business together by opening a new dealership, which Perez would finance. According to Bedoya, when he hesitated, Perez and his associates began 1 Certified Administrative Record (hereinafter “AR”) 200–01. 2 to threaten him and his family. Bedoya went to the police, who listened to his account and told him to report any further intimidation. Sometime later, “the unthinkable happened”: Bedoya was abducted by Perez and taken to an undisclosed location, where he was bound, beaten, and placed in a tub of water.2 Perez’s associates threatened to kill Bedoya and his family if he did not cooperate, and one suggested that they knew he had gone to the police. Bedoya eventually agreed to cooperate and the men released him the next day. He did not go back to the police because he feared that Perez would find out again. Instead, he applied for an American visa and left Colombia a few months later. After considering Bedoya’s testimony and several exhibits, the IJ denied his applications for relief in an 11-page decision. The IJ found that, although Bedoya’s …

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