Javier Lopez-Gonzalez v. Jefferson Sessions

706 F. App'x 435

9th Cir.

2017

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Docket

Javier LOPEZ-GONZALEZ, Petitioner, v. Jefferson B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General, Respondent.

No. 14-72810

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

December 18, 2017

435

Submitted November 14, 2017 * Pasadena, California

Todd Becraft, Law Office of Todd Becraft, Los Angeles, CA, for Petitioner

Chief Counsel ICE, Office of the Chief Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, OIL, Madeline Henley, Esquire, Attorney, Michael Christopher Heyse, Trial Attorney, DOJ—U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division/Office of Immigration Litigation, Jeremy M. Bylund, Trial Attorney, DOJ—U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent

Before: KOZINSKI, HAWKINS and PARKER,** Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM ***

A successful Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) “applicant must show both a greater than 50 percent likelihood that he will be tortured ... and that a public official would ... acquiesce in that torture.” Madrigal v. Holder, 716 F.3d 499, 508 (9th Cir. 2013) (citations omitted). An applicant’s testimony, “if credible, may be sufficient to sustain the burden of proof without corroboration.” 8 C.F.R § 208.16(c)(2).

The IJ found that Lopez-Gonzalez’s testimony about his kidnapping was credible. He testified that his abductors tortured him and questioned him about “which cartel that [h]e belong[ed] to.” He also testified that his captors threatened to kill him if they saw him again. The IJ thus erred in holding that Lopez-Gonzalez would not likely be tortured again because past torture is “the principal factor on which we rely when an applicant who has previously been tortured seeks [CAT] relief[.]” Nuru v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 1207, 1218 (9th Cir. 2005). In light of our recent holding that many Mexican “police officers are involved in kidnapping ... or acting directly on behalf of[] organized crime and drug traffickers,” Madrigal, 716 F.3d at 507 (quotation marks omitted), Lopez-Gonzalez has sufficiently “show[n] that public officials demonstrate[d] ‘willful blindness’ to [his] torture[.]” Zheng v. Ashcroft, 332 F.3d 1186, 1196 (9th Cir. 2003). Willful blindness satisfies the CAT requirement of government acquiescence. Id.

GRANTED.

Notes

The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

The Honorable Barrington D. Parker, Jr., United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting by designation.

***

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.