FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT September 17, 2019 _________________________________ Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court JEYAVATHANAN JEYABALASINGGAM, Petitioner, v. No. 19-9511 (Petition for Review) WILLIAM P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before HOLMES, O’BRIEN, and MATHESON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Jeyavathanan Jeyabalasingam is a native and citizen of Sri Lanka. 1 An immigration judge (IJ) denied his requests for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The Board of Immigration * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. 1 We spell petitioner’s last name “Jeyabalasingam” because that is how he spelled his name on his asylum application and how it was spelled in the initial immigration proceedings. We note, however, that the order on review spells his last name “Jeyabalasinggam.” Appeals (BIA) upheld the IJ’s decision. Mr. Jeyabalasingam now seeks review of the BIA’s decision. Exercising jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), we deny the petition for review. I. BACKGROUND Mr. Jeyabalasingam’s ethnicity and language is Tamil. The IJ’s decision provided the following background information: Governmental apparatuses in Sri Lanka have been controlled for decades by the Sinhalese ethnic majority. Tamil are the largest ethnic and linguistic minority in Sri Lanka, representing about l1 percent of the population. Tamil is an official and national language in Sri Lanka. From 1983 until 2002 Tamil separatists fought the government. The main military arm of the separatists was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which the U.S. Department of State designated a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 1997. The civil war formally ended with a cease fire in 2002, but the cease fire was abrogated by both parties in 2006. The Sri Lankan government withdrew from the cease fire in 2008 and defeated the separatists in 2009. The Sri Lankan government engages in widespread mistreatment of the Tamil minority (including torture). Tamils with actual or perceived links to the LTTE are particularly vulnerable to mistreatment. Admin. R. at 48. The IJ summarized Mr. Jeyabalasingam’s testimony about his family background and his childhood in Sri Lanka: [Petitioner’s] father was killed in 1994 by navy shelling as he was plying his trade as a fisherman. [Petitioner] was born one month after his father was killed. 2 [Petitioner’s] family left Nagarkovil because the Sri Lankan army was bombing the area. They moved to Vanni. [Petitioner’s] maternal uncle, who was a member of the LTTE, lived near [petitioner] and helped his sister— [petitioner’s ...
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