NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________ No. 17-1528 _____________ RABINDER BALAMI, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent ______________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A208-920-974) Immigration Judge: Honorable Leo A. Finston ______________ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) October 27, 2017 ______________ Before: GREENAWAY, JR., COWEN, Circuit Judges, and PADOVA, Senior District Judge.* (Opinion Filed: December 4, 2017) * The Honorable John R. Padova, Senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation. ______________ OPINION** ______________ PADOVA, Senior District Judge. Rabinder Balami petitions for review of a decision and order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from the decision of the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) that denied his applications for asylum, withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review. I. Balami is a native and citizen of Nepal, who entered the United States without proper documentation on January 28, 2016. The Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings on February 16, 2016. Seeking relief from removal, Balami filed applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the CAT, asserting that members of the Maoist Party in Nepal had persecuted him on account of his affiliation with the Nepali Congress Party. Balami testified under oath before an IJ and submitted supporting documentation. He testified that he was born in Nepal in 1984 and lived there for most of his life. In 2012, he was followed by individuals who asked him to join the Maoist Party and had to ** This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. 2 run away from them. The next year, he was again asked about joining the Maoist Party, this time by individuals who approached him while he was working at a restaurant. When he told these individuals that he was not interested in joining the Maoists, they got angry, one hit him in the head with a beer bottle, one threw a bottle at his feet, and another grabbed him by the neck. They then threatened to kill Balami if they saw him again. Balami testified that he went to a medical clinic for injuries he sustained in that attack and received stitches in his knee. Several months after this incident, when Balami was working at a different restaurant in another town, he got a feeling that someone was following him, but never actually saw anyone. Then, in June of 2015, Balami was out walking in yet another town in Nepal when two armed members of the Maoist Party approached him. One grabbed him by the neck from behind, but Balami ran away, and the Maoists chased him with their guns. Three months later, Balami left for the United States. While he was traveling to ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals