Navarathnasingam v. U.S. Attorney Gen.

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PRASATH NAVARATHNASINGAM, Petitioner, v. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent.

No. 21-10487

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

October 14, 2022

DO NOT PUBLISH

Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A213-541-178 Before LUCK, BRASHER, and HULL, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM

Prasath Navarathnasingam petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals's dismissal of his appeal of the immigration judge's order denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. He argues that the immigration judge's adverse credibility finding was not supported by substantial evidence. He also argues that the immigration judge erred in concluding that he didn't corroborate his claims, show a pattern or practice of persecution, and establish eligibility for relief under the Convention Against Torture. After careful review of the record and the parties' briefs, and with the benefit of oral argument we deny Navarathnasingam's petition.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Navarathnasingam's Application

Navarathnasingam is an ethnic Tamil and a native and citizen of Sri Lanka. He entered the United States in 2020 without valid immigration documents, and the Department of Homeland Security served him with a notice to appear before an immigration judge, charging him with being removable. Navarathnasingam conceded removability and the immigration judge sustained the charge. He then filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture.

Navarathnasingam alleged in his application that he feared he would be persecuted, tortured, and murdered by the Sri Lankan government because of his Tamil ethnicity if removed to Sri Lanka.^[1] He wrote that he had been detained and tortured by the Sri Lankan miliary for long periods of time because they mistakenly thought he was a member of a Tamil separatist group known as the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," or "Tamil Tigers.

Specifically Navarathnasingam alleged that the Sri Lankan military detained him from 2009 to 2015 and tortured him with burns ice and heat, repeated beatings, food deprivation, sexual harassment, and electric shock. The military released him in 2015 on the condition that he would not travel, seek medical treatment, or tell anyone about what happened during the detention. Navarathnasingam alleged that the military constantly monitored him and sporadically detained him and tortured him after his initial release. Unable to seek medical treatment, he treated his pain with ayurvedic medicine, oil, turmeric powder, and hot water when he returned home.

Navarathnasingam wrote that military officials went to his home and questioned his mother about where he was at least twice, threatening his mother that they would take her other son if Navarathnasingam wasn't there when they visited the next day. When officials arrived the next day, he alleged that they detained him and tortured him again. They yelled at him, beat him, sexually harassed him, urinated on him, and left him naked in a room for days. He was detained in December 2016 and released in April 2017.

Navarathnasingam alleged that his final detention began in late October 2018, after the military suspected his involvement in a protest for disappeared persons that occurred earlier that month. He alleged that his aunt, whose son had disappeared, asked him to drop her off at the protest, which took place outside a temple, and that he did not participate in the protest but instead entered the temple to pray. Later that month, military officials came to his home and detained him and tortured him again. They asked him questions about the protest and didn't believe that he wasn't involved. They sexually harassed him and burned his leg with an iron box.

Navarathnasingam alleged that he escaped from detention three months later, in January 2019, and hid at his uncle's house. Meanwhile, military officials went to his home and threatened his mother that they would shoot him if they found him. Navarathnasingam feared for his life, so he sought to leave the country. His mother sold their land, house, and jewels to get money to help him leave and, in March 2019, Navarathnasingam escaped Sri Lanka, traveling on a flight out of a Sri Lankan airport and through many countries before eventually arriving in the United States.

Navarathnasingam attached to his application several news articles that discussed Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamil individuals, including a 2017 article identifying approximately 249 Tamil victims who were accused of being Tamil Tigers and tortured through beatings, burning by iron rods, and sexual violence. He provided a 2009 notice from the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka that recognized the registration of a "complaint" by his mother with the commission (although the notice didn't describe the substance of her complaint or have Navarathnasingam's name). He also provided a 2009 certificate of absence showing that his cousin was missing.

Navarathnasingam also introduced letters from family members, community organizations, and a Sri Lankan Justice of the Peace on his behalf. The letters from his mother stated that Navarathnasingam was engaged in "social activities" and detained by the Sri Lankan military from 2009 through 2015; he was harassed three times after his release; his family in Sri Lanka is regularly harassed and threatened about his whereabouts; his life was not safe in Sri Lanka; and her eldest son was killed by the Sri Lankan miliary. A letter from Navarathnasingam's aunt stated that he participated in the October 2018 protest, was arrested, detained, and severely assaulted because of the protest, and escaped military custody and fled abroad in 2019. Navarathnasingam's other aunt wrote that he was engaged in social work and, due to his activities, was arrested, detained, and severely assaulted by the military until he escaped and moved in with her in 2016, and that the military continued searching for him and warned his mother to "hand over her son."

A letter from a community center stated that Navarathnasingam participated and played a leading role in social justice causes at the center, including "struggles" for disappeared people, and that he was taken away "very often" by the military "for inquiries" because of his work. Another letter from a social service organization stated that Navarathnasingam was a member who performed social welfare services, including peaceful protests. The organization wrote that its members "were threatened several times under the pretext of inquiries" by the Sri Lankan military. And the organization stated that Navarathnasingam participated in the October 2018 protest; that it lost contact with him after the protest and learned from his mother that he had been arrested by the military; and that a military official later contacted the organization inquiring about Navarathnasingam.

The letter from a Sri Lankan Justice of the Peace explained that Navarathnasingam's family "is the most affected persons due to the ethnic war in Sri Lanka." The oldest son was "shot and killed" by the Sri Lankan military, and Navarathnasingam "was engaged in [s]ocial work" and served a "key role" in organizing the October 2018 protest. The Justice of the Peace wrote that Navarathnasingam was arrested, detained, and severely assaulted by the Sri Lankan miliary because of the protest before escaping to the United States, and his family members in Sri Lanka were "being harassed" and threatened by the Sri Lankan miliary about his whereabouts. The Justice of the Peace wrote that it was "not advisable" for Navarathnasingam to return to Sri Lanka because he wasn't safe there.

Immigration Court Proceedings

The immigration judge held a hearing on Navarathnasingam's application. Navarathnasingam testified that the information in his application was correct. He also testified that the social service organization's letter didn't mention his six-year detention by the Sri Lankan military because "he did not mention that to them." His application never mentioned his participation in social activism or peaceful demonstrations, Navarathnasingam explained, because he "just wrote what . . . problems [he] faced." He denied participating in the October 2018 protest and insisted that the letters from the social service organization and the Sri Lankan Justice of the Peace had been incorrectly translated to English and that the Tamil versions didn't say that he participated in the October 2018 protest. He testified that he never went to a doctor or hospital because the military released him "under warning" that he could not seek medical treatment or tell anyone about what happened to him. Navarathnasingam said there were three encounters between his mother and the Sri Lankan military two in December 2016, in which the military threatened to take his brother, and a third in 2019, during which the military said it would shoot and kill Navarathnasingam. He explained that his mother's letters failed to mention any of these encounters because he had already mentioned them in his statement, and "she just wrote up the . . . main problems." And while he couldn't explain how he was able to get a passport in one day as "someone who had escaped from military custody," he maintained that he "did the fingerprints and everything" at the passport office and was able to board a flight without being questioned.

Navarathnasingam said that while detained by the military, he was shocked with electricity, repeatedly beaten, burned, and subjected to sexual violence. The only medical treatment he sought for his injuries was ayurvedic treatment using...