United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit Nos. 18-1834 19-1250 SELVIN OVIDIO AREVALO, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. PETITIONS FOR REVIEW OF ORDERS OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Kayatta, Selya, and Stahl, Circuit Judges. David C. Bennion, with whom Free Migration Project was on brief, for petitioner. Lindsay Corliss, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, with whom Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, John S. Hogan, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Daniel E. Goldman, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, and Andrea N. Gevas, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, were on brief, for respondent. February 14, 2020 SELYA, Circuit Judge. In its present posture, this case turns largely on the meaning of the word "recalendar," as that word is used in the immigration context. Here, the parties supplied no particularized meaning for the word when they used it in the pertinent pleadings. Because the word is not specifically defined either in any applicable statutory provision or in any relevant regulation, we give "recalendar" its plain and natural meaning. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) interpreted the word correctly and applied it faithfully. Accordingly, we uphold the challenged orders and deny the two petitions for judicial review. The petitioner, Selvin Ovidio Arevalo, is a Guatemalan national. He entered the United States in 2000 at age fourteen without documentation. The government initiated removal proceedings against the petitioner in 2010, charging him with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), (a)(7)(A)(i)(I). The petitioner conceded removability but cross-applied for asylum and withholding of removal, claiming persecution on account of both political opinion and membership in a particular social group. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(b)(1), 1231(b)(3)(A). At the same time, he sought protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). All of his claims were based on his concerns about violent gang recruitment of young, apparently wealthy adults in Guatemala. - 2 - After a hearing, an immigration judge (IJ) denied the petitioner's claim for asylum as untimely, see id. § 1158(a)(2)(B), noting that, had the claim been timely filed, she would have denied it on the merits. And although the IJ credited the petitioner's testimony, she concluded that the petitioner's generalized fear of dangerous and violent conditions did "not give rise to a basis for a claim for . . . withholding of removal." Finally, the IJ found no evidence that the petitioner would be subject to torture "by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official," 8 C.F.R. § 1208.18(a)(1), should he be repatriated. Accordingly, she denied the petitioner's CAT claim. The petitioner appealed to the BIA. On November 18, 2010, the BIA upheld the IJ's decision, finding that the petitioner was not entitled to asylum, withholding of removal, or CAT protection. The petitioner filed a timely petition for judicial review. After the petition for review was docketed and fully briefed, we entered an order, with the ...
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