The Second Circuit has granted in part and denied in part a petition for review filed by a Sri Lankan respondent who was found to have provided material support to the LTTE by translating during an interrogation. The BIA treated the material support bar as dispositive of the respondent’s asylum, statutory withholding, and CAT withholding claims, and therefore declined to reach the merits of those claims.
The Court held that the BIA erred by failing to determine whether the respondent would be eligible for asylum or statutory withholding of removal but for the material support bar. Without that determination, the respondent could not pursue a discretionary waiver of the material support bar from DHS, which frustrated the statutory and regulatory waiver scheme. However, the Court denied the petition as to CAT protection, finding that substantial evidence supported the agency’s conclusion that the respondent had not shown that he would more likely than not be tortured if returned to Sri Lanka.
The full text of Sufiyan v. Blanche can be found here: https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/OPN/22-6392_complete_amd_opn.pdf