Filed: Feb. 10, 2020
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-2016 _ YAOVI NOULEDO, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A062-342-118) Immigration Judge: Walter A. Durling _ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) January 23, 2019 Before: MCKEE, COWEN, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: February 10, 2020) _ OPINION * _ PER CURIAM * This disposi
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 18-2016 _ YAOVI NOULEDO, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent _ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A062-342-118) Immigration Judge: Walter A. Durling _ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) January 23, 2019 Before: MCKEE, COWEN, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: February 10, 2020) _ OPINION * _ PER CURIAM * This disposit..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 18-2016
___________
YAOVI NOULEDO,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent
____________________________________
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
(Agency No. A062-342-118)
Immigration Judge: Walter A. Durling
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
January 23, 2019
Before: MCKEE, COWEN, and ROTH, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: February 10, 2020)
___________
OPINION *
___________
PER CURIAM
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
Yaovi Nouledo petitions for review of his final order of removal. We will deny
the petition.
I.
Nouledo is a citizen of Togo who entered the United States as a lawful permanent
resident in 2012. He has since been convicted of two crimes, but only one of them is
relevant here. In 2016, Nouledo was convicted of indecent exposure to a person less than
16 years old in violation of 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3127(a) and (b). 1 On the basis of that
conviction, the Government charged Nouledo with removability for, inter alia, having
been convicted of a “crime of child abuse” under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). The
Immigration Judge (“IJ”) sustained the charge.
Nouledo applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the
Convention Against Torture. His testimony in support of his applications was not
entirely clear. In general, however, he claimed to fear persecution and torture in Togo on
account of his political beliefs. In particular, he claimed that he participated in a coup in
Togo in 2005 and that authorities detained and tortured him for five days as a result until
he fled to Benin, where he lived before coming to the United States.
The IJ denied Nouledo’s applications. The IJ concluded that Nouledo failed to
corroborate his claim of having been persecuted and tortured in the past but that, even if
1
Subsection (a) defines the crime of indecent exposure, and subsection (b) is a grading
provision that makes indecent exposure a first-degree misdemeanor only if the victim was
less than 16 years old. Nouledo’s record of conviction shows that he pleaded guilty to
and was sentenced for a first-degree misdemeanor under this statute. (A.252-53, 255.)
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he had, the Government met its burden to show changed circumstances in Togo because
the incident occurred 12 years ago and the 2016 country report states that there were no
reports of political prisoners or detainees or of governmental torture. For the same
reason, the IJ concluded that Nouledo failed to show that he had a well-founded fear of
future persecution or that he likely faced persecution or torture in the future. Thus, the IJ
ordered Nouledo’s removal to Benin and, in the alternative, to Togo.
Nouledo appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), which dismissed
his appeal on the merits essentially for the reasons given by the IJ. Nouledo now
petitions for review. 2
II.
On review, Nouledo has not raised any specific challenge to any of the BIA’s
rulings and the arguments that he does raise are largely inapposite. Nevertheless, we will
liberally construe his pro se brief as raising three issues. Each lacks merit.
First, Nouledo challenges the BIA’s ruling that his criminal conviction renders
him removable. The BIA, however, properly concluded that Nouledo’s conviction of
indecent exposure to a person less than 16 years old in violation of 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §
3127(a) and (b) constitutes a removable “crime of child abuse” under 8 U.S.C. §
2
The Government removed Nouledo to Togo while this petition was pending, but his
removal does not render it moot. See Pieschacon-Villegas v. Att’y Gen.,
671 F.3d 303,
309 n.5 (3d Cir. 2011). Thus, we have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a). We
review factual determinations for substantial evidence and will not disturb them unless
the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. See Uddin v. Att’y Gen.,
870 F.3d 282, 289
(3d Cir. 2017). We review legal issues de novo. See
id.
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1227(a)(2)(E)(i). The BIA has broadly defined a crime of child abuse to include “[a]ny
offense involving an intentional, knowing, reckless, or criminally negligent act or
omission that constitutes maltreatment of a child or that impairs a child’s physical or
mental well-being.” In re Velazquez-Herrera, 24 I. & N. Dec. 503, 512 (BIA 2008).
This Court has recognized that the phrase child abuse “is meant to address conduct that is
criminal,” and therefore has found it “appropriate to define the phrase ‘child abuse’ under
the INA to capture conduct that poses a particular likelihood of harm to the child.” Zhi
Fei Liao v. Att’y Gen.,
910 F.3d 714, 721 (3d Cir. 2018).
A conviction under 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3127(a) and (b) categorically qualifies.
Under that statute, “[a] person commits indecent exposure if that person exposes his or
her genitals in any public place or in any place where there are present other persons
under circumstances in which he or she knows or should know that this conduct is likely
to offend, affront or alarm.” 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3127(a). Exposing one’s genitals to a
child under such circumstances undoubtedly “impairs a child’s . . . mental well-being.”
Mondragon-Gonzalez, 884 F.3d at 158-59. And a conviction for doing so satisfies the
BIA’s mens rea requirement because such a conviction requires at least criminal
negligence. See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 302(a), (b)(4); see also 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 302, Jt.
St. Govt. Comm. Comment—1967 (“‘Negligently,’ as used in Subsection (b)(4), is
intended to mean criminal negligence.”).
Second, Nouledo challenges the denial of his applications for relief. The BIA’s
rulings on those applications, however, is supported by substantial evidence. Nouledo
4
claims to fear persecution and torture in Togo on the basis of his political activities there
over 12 years ago. The BIA concluded that the record did not support his claim, and our
review of the record does not compel a contrary conclusion. In particular, the 2016
Human Rights Report for Togo states that “[t]here were no reports the government or its
agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killing” (A.272), “[t]here were no reports of
politically motivated disappearances” (id.), “there were no reports that government
officials employed [torture]” (A.273), and “[t]here were no reports of political prisoners
or detainees” (A.277).
Finally, Nouledo argues that various equitable factors, such as his family ties to
the United States, weigh against removal. As the BIA explained, however, Nouledo was
not eligible for any relief on the basis of such considerations. In particular, Nouledo was
not eligible for a hardship-based waiver under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h) (Immigration and
Nationality Act § 212(h)) because that section does not permit the waiver of removability
under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2). Nouledo also did not
argue before the Agency and has not argued before us that he was eligible for
cancellation of removal. He was not because he had not accrued seven years of
continuous residence following his admission. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a)(2).
III.
For these reasons, we will deny Nouledo’s petition for review.
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