Case: 19-14116 Date Filed: 06/03/2020 Page: 1 of 19 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 19-14116 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A216-123-987 ANNA GODIEVA, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (June 3, 2020) Before ROSENBAUM, LAGOA, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Anna Godieva, a native and citizen of Belarus, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order affirming the Immigration Judge’s Case: 19-14116 Date Filed: 06/03/2020 Page: 2 of 19 (“IJ”) denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”). After careful review, we deny her petition. I. Godieva entered the United States in November 2017 as a non-immigrant visitor with authorization to remain until May 9, 2018. In December 2018, after Godieva’s application to extend her period of authorized presence was denied, the Department of Homeland Security served Godieva with a Notice to Appear, charging her with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B) for remaining in the United States without authorization. Through counsel, Godieva applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief. Along with her applications, she submitted a detailed affidavit as well as other documentation. Godieva claimed that she had been persecuted on account of her anticorruption political opinion and that she had a well-founded fear of persecution and torture if returned to Belarus. Godieva explained that, before fleeing to the United States, she had worked as an accountant for an influential businessman with connections to the Belarus government and the KGB. When Godieva attempted to quit rather than help him commit fraud, the businessman physically harmed her and threatened her with death, accused her of stealing from him, and then orchestrated a criminal prosecution against her. 2 Case: 19-14116 Date Filed: 06/03/2020 Page: 3 of 19 Before the merits hearing in March 2019, she submitted additional documentation, which included, among other things, the following: (a) a letter from Amnesty International to the IJ stating that Godieva could be “subject to arrest, detention, and/or torture, and ultimately an unfair trial” if returned to Belarus; (b) an Interpol “Red Notice” issued at the request of Belarus stating that Godieva was a fugitive wanted for prosecution for misappropriating approximately $145,000 from companies owned by the businessman; and (c) an expert report prepared by Ralph Scott Clem, Ph.D., a professor at Florida International University, who wrote that Godieva’s claims were plausible because Belarus was a “highly corrupt” and “human rights abusive state[]” “in which some of its citizens are beaten, imprisoned, and tortured by agents of the state,” and that it used Red Notices to go after “those that it regards as a threat to its corrupted authoritarian rule.” A. At the merits hearing, Godieva testified through an interpreter as follows. Godieva was a professional accountant in Belarus. In August 2015, her father introduced her to ...
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