NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________ No. 18-1232 _____________ ARIF SARKER, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _____________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A206-498-043) Immigration Judge: Rosalind K. Malloy ______________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) September 11, 2018 ______________ Before: JORDAN, VANASKIE, and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges (Filed: December 28, 2018) ______________ OPINION* ______________ VANASKIE, Circuit Judge. Arif Sarker petitions for review of a final order of review issued by the Board of * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Immigration Appeals (“BIA” or “Board”). For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review. I. Sarker, a native and citizen of Bangladesh, arrived in the United States in March 2014. Sarker was thereafter served with a Notice to Appear, charging him with removability under the Immigration & Nationality Act (“INA”) § 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I), for not being in possession of a valid entry document. In November 2014, he filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”), predicated on his claim that he had been persecuted for his involvement in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (“BNP”). An asylum officer found that Sarker demonstrated a credible fear of persecution or torture, and referred his application to an immigration judge (“IJ”) for further proceedings. Sarker conceded removability and renewed his application for asylum and related relief. At his administrative hearing, Sarker testified that since 1999 he has been a member of the BNP, which is in opposition to the current ruling party of Bangladesh, the Awami League. Sarker claimed that he was first approached by members of the Awami League in his home town of Comilla, Bangladesh, in January 2013, when two men asked him to join the Awami League and he refused. Sarker testified that his refusal to join the Awami League angered the men, and that he was assaulted and intimidated by members of the Awami League in Comilla on multiple occasions because of his refusal to join the party. Sarker made arrangements to leave Bangladesh following these incidents, and 2 stayed at his aunt’s house in Dhaka until he could leave the country. The IJ was unable to conclude, based on the evidence presented, that Sarker suffered past persecution on account of his political opinion or that he would be persecuted upon his return to Bangladesh. In addition, the IJ determined that Sarker has the opportunity to safely relocate to a different city in Bangladesh. The IJ denied each of Sarker’s applications for relief and ordered him removed to Bangladesh. Sarker appealed the IJ’s ruling to the BIA and, in a January 2018 decision, the BIA dismissed his appeal. The BIA agreed with the IJ’s finding that Sarker failed to establish that he suffered past persecution. Additionally, the BIA agreed that Sarker ...
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