NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ____________ Nos. 21-2667 & 22-1765 ____________ HIEU VAN TRAN, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ____________ On Petitions for Review of Orders of the Board of Immigration Appeals (A046-574-876) Immigration Judge: Alice Song Hartye ____________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) January 19, 2023 ____________ Before: AMBRO, PORTER, and FREEMAN, Circuit Judges. (Opinion filed February 3, 2023) ____________ OPINION* ____________ FREEMAN, Circuit Judge. Hieu Van Tran petitions for review of two decisions: the Immigration Judge’s order denying relief under the Convention Against Torture and the Board of Immigration * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to 3d Cir. I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Appeals’ order denying his motion to reopen his removal proceedings. For the reasons stated, we will deny the petition in part and dismiss in part for lack of jurisdiction. I. Tran was born in Vietnam and admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident when he was seven or eight years old. Approximately twenty years later, he was convicted of drug distribution, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) & (b)(1)(C), which led him to be placed in removal proceedings. Proceeding pro se, Tran applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). He asserted that he feared returning to Vietnam based on his race, mixed ethnic background, religion, and political beliefs. Tran is the child of an Amerasian parent with African-American ancestry, and he is a Christian. At the merits hearing, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) questioned Tran extensively about the bases for his application for protection under CAT, including his mixed ethnic background. Tran recounted three childhood incidents where he had been harmed in Vietnam. First, he described an incident where he picked fruit from a villager’s tree without permission; the villager retaliated by tying him to a tree, causing Tran to suffer from ant bites. Upon probing by the IJ, Tran testified he believed he was targeted because of his race and mixed ethnic background but could not recall the villager’s saying anything to him during the incident. Second, Tran described an incident where he and other children were playing on a neighbor’s flooded rice paddy without permission and the neighbor retaliated by grabbing him and dunking his head repeatedly in water. He testified he believed he was harmed because he was “messing up” the rice paddy. 2 Administrative Record (“A.R.”) 813.1 Upon the IJ’s probing, Tran also stated he believed he was targeted because of his mixed ethnic background, though he admitted his belief was rooted in speculation. Third, during a short visit to Vietnam after relocating to the United States, a bystander told Tran he did not belong because he came from America, threw a rock at him, and started a fight that onlookers quickly broke up. Tran testified that he did not contact government authorities about any of these incidents and …
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