NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Argued July 7, 2017 Decided October 4, 2017 Before DIANE P. WOOD, Chief Judge WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge No. 16‐3820 IVAN GENTHOV PICHIMAROV, Petition for Review of an Order of the Petitioner, Board of Immigration Appeals. v. No. A 089‐849‐278 JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. O R D E R Ivan Pichimarov, a 42 year‐old Roma from Bulgaria, petitions for review of the denial of his application for withholding of removal, both statutorily and under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). But our jurisdiction to consider this petition is limited by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2(C), because Pichimarov is removable for having committed a crime involving moral turpitude. Our jurisdiction thus is confined under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D) to questions of law and colorable constitutional claims, and Pichimarov raises none, so we dismiss the petition. Pichimarov fled Bulgaria and entered the United States without inspection in 1996. In 2000 he was convicted in Arkansas of felony theft of property. In 2009 the No. 16‐3820 Page 2 Department of Homeland Security started removal proceedings, charging him as removable as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), and as an alien convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, see id. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i). Pichimarov admitted that he was removable on both grounds but applied for asylum,1 statutory withholding of removal, and withholding of removal under CAT. At a hearing before the immigration judge, Pichimarov testified that Bulgarians discriminate against the Roma. But according to Pichimarov, the biggest threat to Roma was the organized crime groups in Bulgaria—collectively called “grupirovki”—who harassed and beat Roma and forced them to transport illegal goods. Pichimarov recounted that he once refused a local crime leader who had asked him to transport cargo illegally throughout Europe, and the leader warned that he might “disappear” if he did not accept the job. Pichimarov reported the threat to the police, who did nothing, so he moved to a different city in Bulgaria and hid at his aunt’s house for six or seven months before fleeing to the United States. Pichimarov testified that he feared returning to Bulgaria because organized crime now treated Roma more harshly than when he left. He recalled that portions of money transfers he sent back to his parents had been withheld as a tax by the banks, which were all controlled by organized crime. Pichimarov also testified that the local crime groups still controlled the police, who, he believed, would arrest him as soon as he returned to Bulgaria, extort him for money, and beat him if he refused. The IJ denied Pichimarov’s application. First the IJ found his testimony “far too speculative and not persuasive” and his corroborating evidence insufficient to support “even a subjective fear” of returning ...
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