Filed: Dec. 16, 2010
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 10-11613 DECEMBER 16, 2010 Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY CLERK _ Agency No. A096-101-148 SOPHIE EPOSI LINGONDO, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. _ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals _ (December 16, 2010) Before BLACK, HULL and FAY, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Sophie Eposi Lingondo, a native and citizen of Cam
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 10-11613 DECEMBER 16, 2010 Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY CLERK _ Agency No. A096-101-148 SOPHIE EPOSI LINGONDO, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. _ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals _ (December 16, 2010) Before BLACK, HULL and FAY, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Sophie Eposi Lingondo, a native and citizen of Came..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-11613 DECEMBER 16, 2010
Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY
CLERK
________________________
Agency No. A096-101-148
SOPHIE EPOSI LINGONDO,
Petitioner,
versus
U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
__________________________
Petition for Review of a Decision of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
_________________________
(December 16, 2010)
Before BLACK, HULL and FAY, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Sophie Eposi Lingondo, a native and citizen of Cameroon, petitions for
review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) decision affirming the
Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of asylum and withholding of removal under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and relief under the United Nations
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CAT). On review, Lingondo argues (1) the IJ violated her due
process rights and (2) she established a well-founded or likely fear of future
persecution. We review each issue in turn.
I.
Lingondo first argues the IJ violated her due process rights by depriving her
of a fair removal hearing. She contends the IJ did not act as a neutral fact-finder,
prejudged her claim, assumed the Government’s role, and inhibited her counsel
from conducting a meaningful direct examination.
We lack jurisdiction to review claims the petitioner failed to raise before the
BIA, regardless of whether the BIA addressed the claims sua sponte.
Amaya-Artunduaga v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
463 F.3d 1247, 1250–51 (11th Cir. 2006).
A due process claim that alleges a petitioner was “denied a full and fair hearing
before a neutral fact-finder is precisely the kind of procedural error which requires
exhaustion.”
Amaya-Artunduaga, 463 F.3d at 1251. Lingondo failed to raise any
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claim concerning the denial of a fair hearing, bias, or a due process violation to the
BIA. Because she failed to exhaust the issue we lack jurisdiction to consider it.
II.
Lingondo next argues the BIA erred by concluding she failed to
demonstrate a well-founded fear of future persecution. She claims her husband’s
tribe targeted her family after her husband refused to become chief, and she
believes the tribe will come after her if she returns to Cameroon. She contends if
her husband has been killed, she could suffer the same fate, or if he is alive, she
may be captured to force him out of hiding. Alternatively, if her husband has
become chief, she fears she will be subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).
We review the BIA’s conclusions under the substantial-evidence test, and
the BIA’s conclusions will be affirmed if supported by reasonable, substantial, and
probative evidence based upon the record as a whole. Forgue v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
401 F.3d 1282, 1286 (11th Cir. 2005) (citation omitted). For us to reverse the
BIA’s decision under this test, we must find the record compels a contrary
conclusion, not merely that it supports one. Adefemi v. Ashcroft,
386 F.3d 1022,
1027 (11th Cir. 2004).
An applicant can establish a well-founded fear of future persecution by
showing a fear based upon a reasonable possibility of future persecution on
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account of a protected ground, that is both “subjectively genuine and objectively
reasonable.” Kazemzadeh v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
577 F.3d 1341, 1352 (11th Cir.
2009). An alien can establish a nexus between the fear of persecution and a
protected ground “by presenting specific, detailed facts showing a good reason to
fear that he or she will be singled out for persecution on account of such
[protected] ground.” Mehmeti v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
572 F.3d 1196, 1200 (11th Cir.
2009) (citation and quotation omitted). An alien can also establish a well-founded
fear of future persecution by showing a “pattern or practice” in the subject country
of persecuting “a group of persons similarly situated to the applicant on account of
[a protected ground]” and her own membership in such a group. 8 C.F.R.
§ 208.13(b)(2)(iii).
Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s determination that Lingondo failed
to establish her eligibility for asylum. If tribesmen had killed her husband, as she
testified she believed, Lingondo did not have an objective reason to fear capture,
FGM, or death, because those fears revolved around the tribe’s continued interest
in her husband.
Kazemzadeh, 577 F.3d at 1352. There is no objective basis for
her fear of future harm in Cameroon, as it has been eight years since her husband
was chosen to be chief and there is no evidence the tribe has any continuing
interest in him or Lingondo. Lingondo also failed to establish a pattern or practice
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of persecution against similarly situated persons, providing no evidence about the
widows of men who refused to become chief later being harmed. 8 C.F.R.
§ 208.13(b)(2)(iii). Thus, the record does not compel the conclusion that
Lingondo had a good reason to fear being singled out for future persecution on
account of her husband’s status or that she demonstrated a pattern or practice
against similarly situated persons. Her withholding of removal and CAT relief
claims also fail because they were based on the same facts as her asylum claim,
and she failed to meet the lower burden under asylum. See Rodriguez Morales v.
U.S. Att’y Gen.,
488 F.3d 884, 891 (11th Cir. 2007).
DISMISSED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
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