No. 23-2430 ___________________________

Elvir Durakovic; Sanela Durakovic; A.D.

Petitioners

v.

Merrick B. Garland

Respondent ____________

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________

Submitted: March 15, 2024 Filed: May 20, 2024 ____________ Before GRUENDER, SHEPHERD, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge.

Elvir Durakovic, his wife Sanela, and their daughter (collectively, Petitioners) petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s order of final removal against them. First, they claim the Board violated their due process rights by denying them an extension of time to file their brief. Second, they claim the Board lacked substantial evidence when it determined they were ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal because they were not persecuted for their Muslim faith. Third, they claim the Board lacked substantial evidence when it denied relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) on finding they did not face a likelihood of torture if they returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the reasons discussed below, we deny the petition.

I. Background

Petitioners are natives and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are Bosnian Muslims, an ethnic and religious group otherwise known as Bosniaks. From 2003 to 2008, Durakovic worked as a security officer at a bank in the city of Gradacac, Bosnia-Herzegovina. During that time, he worked as a confidential informant for police because his father was the Chief of Police and could afford him “some kind of protection.” In 2008, Durakovic’s father retired from the police, and Durakovic stopped being an informant. Durakovic later learned that some policemen leaked information about his past informant activities to Serbian criminals.

Between December 2009 and February 2012, Durakovic suffered four encounters with criminals targeting him for his prior informant activities. First, in December 2009, three men broke into his house while he was home. They wore all black and had their faces covered, but Durakovic deduced they were Christian Serbians because they wore chain necklaces with large crosses. One of them pushed Durakovic to the ground while the others destroyed things in his house. They asked him, “why are you giving information about things that we do to the police?” and “why are you giving information to the police?” The men left, and Durakovic was not injured during this encounter.

The second incident occurred a short while later in early 2010. While Durakovic was inside his house, three men attacked Durakovic’s car, smashing its windows and scratching it, before driving away. The attack lasted two or three minutes, and they probably never knew Durakovic was inside the home at the time. The third incident occurred in 2011 when Durakovic received a phone call in which -2- the caller threatened to hurt him for being an informant, apparently not knowing he had stopped being an informant in 2008.

In February 2012, the fourth and final incident occurred, this one resulting in physical harm to Durakovic. After eating dinner with his family, two cars pulled up in front of his house. Three men emerged; they had covered their faces and wore chain necklaces with crosses. They kicked Durakovic, pushed him to the ground, and tied his hands. One told him, “we will put you in the trunk and we will take you somewhere where we will kill you,”