NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ____________ No. 21-1133 _____________ ALEX BAIKAY KAMARA, Petitioner, v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ________________ On Petition for Review from the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A078-783-452) Immigration Judge: Pallavi S. Shirole ______________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) November 18, 2021 _____________ Before: CHAGARES, Chief Judge; BIBAS and FUENTES, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: January 12, 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. Alex Baikay Kamara petitions this Court to reverse the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the order of the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying his application for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). For the reasons explained herein, we will deny Kamara’s petition. I. Kamara is a citizen of Sierra Leone and a member of the Temne tribe. In 1997, George Adams, a lieutenant in the Sierra Leonean military, sexually assaulted Kamara’s sister in front of him, struck Kamara with the butt of an AK-47 rifle, and threatened to kill Kamara if he saw Kamara again.1 Kamara later testified against Adams during a military tribunal. Kamara left Sierra Leone in 1999. He was admitted to the United States as a refugee in 2001 and became a lawful permanent resident in 2004. Kamara has returned to Sierra Leone once since he left—a one-month trip in 2010 to visit the graves of his mother and sister.2 In 2018, Kamara was convicted of two criminal offenses in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Camden County: (1) criminal sexual assault in the fourth degree,3 and (2) endangering the welfare of children in the third degree.4 Following these convictions, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) initiated removal proceedings against 1 Adams was a member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (“AFRC”), which staged a military coup in May 1997 and wielded political power over Sierra Leone in conjunction with the Revolutionary United Front (“RUF”) at the time of these assaults. 2 Kamara asserts that he was in hiding during his visit. See A.R. 151–53. 3 N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:14-3B (2018). 4 N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:24-4A(1) (2018). 2 Kamara, charging him as removable on two independent grounds under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”): (1) INA Section 237(a)(2)(E)(i) (8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i)), for being convicted of a crime of child abuse; and (2) INA Section 237(a)(2)(A)(iii) (8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)), for being convicted of an aggravated felony of sexual abuse of a minor, as defined in INA Section 101(a)(43)(A) (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A)). Kamara applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT. He expressed fear that Adams will torture him if he were to return to Sierra Leone.5 The IJ sustained the two independent charges of removability against Kamara; denied Kamara’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT; and ordered Kamara removed to Sierra Leone. Kamara …
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