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Keywords

tortappealtestimonydeportationretribution

tortappealtrialtestimonywillleaseparole

Related Cases

Rivas-Pena v. Sessions

Facts

Pedro Rivas-Pena, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and a citizen of Mexico, faced removal due to a drug-trafficking conviction. He applied for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, fearing retribution from the Los Zetas cartel, which he believed would hold him responsible for the loss of drugs and money. An immigration judge dismissed his fears as speculative, leading to an appeal.

Rivas-Pena, who is now 44 years old, entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1996. He was convicted of drug-related crimes in 1997 and 2017. For the later convictionpossession of cocaine with intent to distribute, 720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(A)he was sentenced to eight years in prison. But he was released on parole the same day that he was sentenced because he had accumulated substantial good-time credit during three and a half years of pretrial detention.

Issue

Did the Board of Immigration Appeals err in denying Rivas-Pena's application for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture?

Rule

To qualify for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, an applicant must show that it is 'more likely than not' that they would be tortured if removed to their home country.

To qualify for this relief, Rivas-Pena must show that if he were removed to Mexico, it is 'more likely than not' that he would be tortured.

Analysis

The court found that the immigration judge and the BIA failed to provide a logical basis for dismissing Rivas-Pena's fears of torture. The expert testimony provided by Dr. Jones, which indicated a high likelihood of torture upon deportation, was not adequately addressed by the lower courts. The court emphasized that the absence of recent contact with the cartel does not negate the risk of harm, especially given Rivas-Pena's criminal history and the nature of cartel operations.

Here substantial evidence does not support the judge's decision. The parties agree that a fugitive Los Zetas leader warned Rivas-Pena that he would be responsible if anything happened to the contraband and that 'several hundred thousand dollars,' in Dr. Jones's expert opinion, 'is not an amount the Zetas will forgive and forget.' Given these factsand Dr. Jones's additional unchallenged opinion that Rivas-Pena faces 'a very high to near certainty [] of being tortured and killed if deported to Mexico'a reasonable factfinder would not dismiss as merely 'speculative' Rivas-Pena's fear of harm by Los Zetas.

Conclusion

The court granted Rivas-Pena's petition for review and remanded the case for further proceedings, emphasizing the need for a thorough examination of the evidence regarding the risk of torture.

Accordingly, we GRANT Rivas-Pena's petition for review of the denial of his petition for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Who won?

Rivas-Pena prevailed in the case because the court found that the evidence did not support the denial of his application for deferral of removal, highlighting the failure of the BIA to engage with critical expert testimony.

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