NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAY 14 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JOSE GERMAN MENJIVAR, AKA Jose No. 18-73290 Menjivar Guerra, Agency No. A095-138-896 Petitioner, v. MEMORANDUM* WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted May 6, 2020** Pasadena, California Before: M. SMITH, OWENS, and BRESS, Circuit Judges. Jose German Menjivar, a native and citizen of El Salvador, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) final removal order dismissing his appeal from the immigration judge’s (IJ) decision denying his application for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). (CAT). As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them here. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We grant in part and deny in part the petition for review, and we remand. 1. The BIA erred by failing to address Menjivar’s argument that the IJ committed procedural errors. On appeal to the BIA, Menjivar argued that the IJ procedurally erred by not allowing live testimony regarding his prior criminal convictions and not affording him more time to prepare his declaration. The BIA summarily affirmed the IJ’s decision, thereby ignoring Menjivar’s procedural arguments. See Sagaydak v. Gonzales, 405 F.3d 1035, 1040 (9th Cir. 2005) (“[I]t goes without saying that IJs and the BIA are not free to ignore arguments raised by a petitioner.”). As Menjivar argues here, remand is warranted because “the BIA errs when it fails on appeal to consider and decide claims that the IJ proceedings suffered from procedural irregularity.” Montes-Lopez v. Gonzales, 486 F.3d 1163, 1165 (9th Cir. 2007); see also INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16, 18 (2002) (per curiam) (applying the “ordinary ‘remand’ rule,” pursuant to which “a court of appeals should remand a case to an agency for decision of a matter that statutes place primarily in agency hands”). Therefore, we grant the petition on this ground and remand for the BIA to consider Menjivar’s procedural arguments in the first 2 instance.1 2. Substantial evidence supports the IJ’s conclusion that Menjivar is ineligible for CAT protection.2 Menjivar argues that Salvadoran officials were willfully blind to his kidnapping and the murders of his cousins. See Reyes-Reyes v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 782, 787 (9th Cir. 2004) (explaining that government acquiescence in torture inflicted by private individuals includes “willful blindness”). However, because Menjivar failed to present any evidence supporting his claim that it is more likely than not that he would be tortured with the acquiescence of Salvadoran government officials, the IJ’s decision to deny Menjivar CAT relief is supported by substantial evidence. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(2), 1208.18(a)(1); Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d ...
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