FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT May 15, 2020 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court BERNABE PEREZ-GARCIA, a/k/a Saul Perez-Garcia, Petitioner, v. No. 18-9564 (Petition for Review) WILLIAM P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before MATHESON, BALDOCK, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Bernabe Perez-Garcia petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for withholding of removal and for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The BIA also denied Mr. Perez-Garcia’s motion to remand to the IJ or for termination of the proceedings. We deny the petition. * 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 This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.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. I. BACKGROUND Mr. Perez-Garcia is a native and citizen of Mexico. He entered the United States illegally in 1996. After twice being removed to Mexico in 2000, he illegally reentered the United States for a third time and has lived here ever since. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) reinstated Mr. Perez- Garcia’s 2000 order of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(5). He informed DHS that he feared persecution if returned to Mexico. An asylum officer interviewed Mr. Perez-Garcia and made a negative reasonable fear determination. Mr. Perez-Garcia requested a review of the asylum officer’s determination. DHS sent a Notice of Referral (“NOR”) to the immigration court and served it on Mr. Perez-Garcia. It advised him to report for a hearing on a date and time “to be determined.” Admin. R. at 634. Before the hearing occurred, the IJ conducted a reasonable-fear review. He vacated the asylum officer’s determination and placed Mr. Perez-Garcia in “withholding-only” proceedings. 1 In January 2016, the immigration court sent Mr. Perez-Garcia a notice informing him of when his initial withholding-only hearing 1 “Withholding-only” proceedings occur when noncitizens subject to a reinstated removal order express reasonable fear of returning to their native country. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.31(a), (g)(2)(i); Luna-Garcia v. Holder, 777 F.3d 1182, 1183-84 (10th Cir. 2015) (describing withholding-only procedure following reinstatement of order of removal); see also R-S-C v. Sessions, 869 F.3d 1176, 1179-80 (10th Cir. 2017) (explaining that noncitizens subject to reinstated removal orders may not apply for asylum but may seek withholding of removal through withholding-only proceedings). 2 would occur. He later received notice that the hearing had been rescheduled to May 12, 2016. Mr. Perez-Garcia appeared at the May 12 hearing and applied for withholding of removal and CAT protection. In August ...
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