FILED PUBLISH United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 9, 2021 FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Christopher M. Wolpert _________________________________ Clerk of Court THEWODROS WOLIE BIRHANU, a/k/a Thewodros Birhanu, Petitioner, v. No. 19-9599 ROBERT M. WILKINSON, Acting Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. _________________________________ Petition for Review from the Board of Immigration Appeals _________________________________ Tania N. Valdez (Christopher N. Lasch, with her on the briefs), University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Immigration Law & Policy Clinic, Denver, Colorado, appearing for Petitioner. Vanessa M. Otero, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation (Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Anthony P. Nicastro, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, with her on the brief), United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, appearing for Respondent. _________________________________ Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, BRISCOE, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ BRISCOE, Circuit Judge. On January 20, 2021, Robert M. Wilkinson became Acting Attorney General of the United States. Consequently, his name has been substituted for William P. Barr as Respondent, per Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2). _________________________________ Thewodros Wolie Birhanu petitions for review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA dismissed Mr. Birhanu’s appeal from the decision of the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) finding him removable. The BIA and the IJ ruled that Mr. Birhanu was removable as an alien convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude (“CIMTs”) not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct, that he was not entitled to asylum or withholding of removal because his convictions qualified as particularly serious crimes, and that he was not entitled to relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Exercising jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), we dismiss his claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act as unexhausted and deny the balance of his petition for review on the merits. I Mr. Birhanu is a citizen of Ethiopia. In 2007, he was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. Mr. Birhanu also has a history of paranoid schizophrenia. Although the record is unclear, Mr. Birhanu may have had his first psychotic break as early as 1999, while living in Ethiopia. See AR at 988; but see AR at 135 (Mr. Birhanu testifying he first noticed his symptoms in 2007). After receiving lawful permanent resident status, Mr. Birhanu visited Ethiopia on at least two occasions. Both times, Mr. Birhanu’s family sent Mr. Birhanu to a church for “holy water treatment” for his mental illness. Both times, Mr. Birhanu was physically and mentally abused, including being bound, hit, and isolated. Mr. 2 Birhanu was also struck by Ethiopian police when he sought help. When residing in the United States, Mr. Birhanu is able to manage his illness with prescription medication. He is unable to receive similar care in Ethiopia, however, where there is only one mental hospital and where his prescription medication is unavailable. In December 2016, Mr. Birhanu suffered a psychotic episode. At …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals