Case: 21-60413 Document: 00516502034 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/10/2022 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED October 10, 2022 No. 21-60413 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Carlos M. Anja, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A213 327 466 Before Jones, Southwick, and Ho, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Carlos M. Anja petitions this court to review a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA” or “Board”) order denying his motions to reconsider and reopen. His petition is DENIED. I Anja, a Cameroon national, entered the United States at its Mexican border without valid entry documents. The Department of Homeland Security personally served Anja with a notice to appear and charged him as * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 21-60413 Document: 00516502034 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/10/2022 No. 21-60413 removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) as an alien present in the United States without valid entry documents. At his hearing while appearing pro se, Anja filed for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture Act (“CAT”). The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) gave Anja a deadline for the submission of documents and warned him that an untimely submission may result in the waiver of his right to submit documents for the IJ’s consideration. At a subsequent hearing, Anja appeared with counsel and requested a continuance to obtain documents. The IJ granted the request, stating he planned to give Anja “every opportunity to present his best case to this Court.” Later, Anja requested another continuance. The IJ, again, granted the request. Anja did not meet any of the three deadlines to submit the documents relevant here. Instead, he asked to submit two new documents, an arrest warrant and a death certificate, into evidence at his merits hearing, almost four weeks after the final deadline had passed. The IJ granted the government’s objection to the documents’ admission. At the hearing, Anja described his alleged mistreatment by the Cameroon government. As his story goes, the Cameroon military twice arrested him. The first time, the military beat him “mercilessly” during detention. Anja says he bribed someone to release him and went to a doctor to treat his injuries with herbs. During his second arrest, the military tied him to wood planks and beat him. A separatist group then ambushed Anja’s captors, creating enough of a distraction for Anja to escape to Nigeria. Anja provided no documents to corroborate the details of his alleged mistreatment in Cameroon. When asked about the untimely documents submitted during the hearing, Anja said an unknown American helped him obtain them, but he did not know how she gained access to the documents. The IJ denied Anja’s applications for asylum and CAT protection. The IJ found Anja not …
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