United States Court of Appeals

for the Fifth Circuit

No. 18-60251

Marisela Carolina Morales Lopez; Gretel Juliana 

Mejia Morales, 

Petitioners,

versus

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, 

Respondent.

Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Before Southwick, Graves, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges.

James E. Graves, Jr., Circuit Judge:*

Marisela Carolina Morales Lopez and her minor daughter G.J.M.M. 

are citizens of Honduras. They petition for review of the denial of their 

asylum applications. We grant, in part, and deny, in part, the petition; vacate 

the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order of removal; and remand for further 

proceedings consistent with this opinion.

* Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this 

opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited 

circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

March 19, 2021

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

2

I. 

Morales Lopez and her daughter were charged with illegally entering 

the United States. They conceded that they are removable and sought 

asylum. Their application1for asylum was denied.2 The application 

presented two bases for relief. First, in February 2013, Morales Lopez was 

living with her husband Jose Carlos Mejia Murillo and children3 when 

members of Los Olanchos—a gang—broke into Morales Lopez’s home, beat 

Morales Lopez, and raped her repeatedly in front of her family. Second, in 

April or May 2015, members of Los Vatos Locos—another gang—tortured 

and murdered Morales Lopez’s husband and then began threatening Morales 

Lopez and her family. The petition for review concerns only the incidents 

connected to Los Vatos Locos.

Los Vatos Locos first threatened Mejia Murillo in 2013 because he had 

an aunt who was a member of an opposing gang. Mejia Murillo was not 

involved in any gang himself. Although Mejia Murillo made efforts to avoid 

Los Vatos Locos, in April or May 2015, a third party lured him to an area 

where Los Vatos Locos members tortured and killed him. Community 

members who witnessed Mejia Murillo’s death told Morales Lopez that Los 

Vatos Locos members “hit [Mejia Murillo] with pipes on his face and head, 

[] broke his knees open until you could see the bones; [] split his head open 

1 Morales Lopez’s daughter is a derivative-asylum applicant. All references to 

Morales Lopez or her application pertain to her daughter’s application as well. See 8 U.S.C. 

§ 1158(b)(3)(A) (“A spouse or child . . . of an alien who is granted asylum under this 

subsection may, if not otherwise eligible for asylum under this section, be granted the same 

status as the alien if accompanying, or following to join, such alien.”). 

2 Morales Lopez and her daughter had applied for additional relief that was denied 

but not at issue in their petition for review. See Soadjede v. Ashcroft, 324 F.3d 830, 833 (5th 

Cir. 2003) (deeming issues not raised in a petition for review abandoned). 

3 Morales Lopez has four children in total: three sons and one daughter. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

3

and his face was so disfigured that he was unrecognizable. They also placed 

a rope around his neck and tied it to his hands behind his back and to his 

feet.” Morales Lopez examined photos of Mejia Murillo’s body and “saw 

that his head had been totally destroyed.” She “could see his brain through 

a large crack in his skull.” He was also shot six times. Morales Lopez did not 

report her husband’s death to the police lest the police share that information 

with the gang, stating that, in Honduras, gang-related murders “cannot be 

reported” because “[t]he police will inform . . . the gang members[.]” 

On the day of Mejia Murillo’s burial—which was one or two days after 

his murder—Morales Lopez received a voicemail message from her 

husband’s phone number. Los Vatos Locos’ leader, an individual Morales 

Lopez refers to as “Abram,” sent her the message, which was a recording of 

Mejia Murillo pleading with Los Vatos Locos members not to kill him 

because he had a wife and a daughter. 

Two days later, Morales Lopez visited her mother-in-law’s house with 

her children. Shortly after Morales Lopez left the house, three Los Vatos 

Locos members surrounded her. They told her that she was not allowed to 

“go there anymore” and had “three seconds to leave[.]” 

Sometime the next week, Abram called Morales Lopez from Mejia 

Murillo’s phone number and told her that “they would kill [her].” Abram 

said that “[Mejia Murillo] hadn’t been killed because he still had his wife and 

daughter alive” and “everything from that dog would disappear,”4 which 

Morales Lopez interpreted as a threat against her and her daughter, the only 

one of her children fathered by Mejia Murillo. Morales Lopez told Abram 

4

In her affidavit, Morales Lopez phrased Abram’s statement somewhat 

differently, stating that Abram said that “everything that had to do with this dog would 

disappear.” 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

4

that “[her] daughter didn’t know anything and had nothing to do with this.” 

Abram responded that “it didn’t matter, that even his mother didn’t matter 

to him.” Abram then texted Morales Lopez—again from her husband’s 

phone number—stating, “[W]hy are you afraid of us? Come to our 

neighborhood.” Mejia Murillo’s brother also received death threats from 

Abram following Mejia Murillo’s murder. 

A week or two after Mejia Murillo’s murder, Los Vatos Locos 

members confronted Morales Lopez’s son at his school, asking him where 

Morales Lopez was and forbidding him to return to the school. None of 

Morales Lopez’s children returned to school that year. 

Then, a few weeks to a month after Mejia Murillo’s murder, Mejia 

Murillo’s mother and brother abandoned their house at the direction of Los 

Vatos Locos members who implied that they would kill them if they did not 

leave the house within 72 hours of their order to vacate.5 

In June 2015, Morales Lopez and her daughter moved in with Morales 

Lopez’s cousin because of Los Vatos Locos’ threats. Morales Lopez sent her 

sons to live with her sister because she thought it would be safer for them to 

live apart from her. 

In January or February 2016, Morales Lopez saw a Los Vatos Locos 

gang member in a bus or car that was passing by her cousin’s house. Later 

that same week, her cousin was attacked. The assailants “cut the side of his 

5 The IJ stated only that Mejia Murillo’s mother and brother were ordered to leave 

the house in this incident. Morales Lopez’s affidavit stated that Mejia Murillo’s sister was 

also ordered to leave the house. But, when Morales Lopez testified, she did not mention 

Mejia Murillo’s sister and, instead, mentioned her “mother-in-law and my brothers-inlaw[.]” Like the IJ, Morales Lopez does not mention Mejia Murillo’s sister in recounting 

the incident in her opening brief on review; Morales Lopez mentions only Mejia Murillo’s 

mother and brother. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 4 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

5

face with a machete and cut his wrist so badly that his tendons were cut and 

he could not move his fingers.” Morales Lopez and her cousin suspected 

that Los Vatos Locos was behind the attack in part because her cousin 

“hadn’t had any problems with gangs or anyone else[.]” 

Soon after her cousin’s attack, Morales Lopez left for the United 

States with her daughter. Morales Lopez’s sons remained in Honduras with 

relatives. 

In her asylum application, Morales Lopez claimed that she had 

suffered past persecution and had a well-founded fear of future persecution 

based on her membership in the particular social group of “immediate family 

members of Jose Carlos Mejia Murillo.”6 Morales Lopez testified at her 

removal hearing that she believes that she and her daughter would be tortured 

or killed by Los Vatos Locos if they returned to Honduras, and stated, “In 

Honduras, if they kill the husband, they also kill the wife.” She recounted 

that, a few months before her husband’s murder, Los Vatos Locos had killed 

her neighbor and, several months later, killed his wife. Morales Lopez stated 

that her sons are afraid to go outside and that she fears for their safety. 

6 After a detailed discussion, the IJ determined that “‘immediate family members 

of Jose Carlos Mejia Murillo’ constitutes a particular social group [under 8 U.S.C. § 

1158(b)(1)(B)(i)], and that [Morales Lopez] is a member of such group by virtue of her 

common law marriage to [Mejia Murillo].” In Pena Oseguera v. Barr, the court remanded 

in part so that “the IJ and the BIA may have the benefit of the increased clarity provided 

by Matter of L-E-A-[, 27 I. & N. Dec. 581 (U.S. Att’y Gen. 2019)].” 936 F.3d 249, 251 (5th 

Cir. 2019). Matter of L-E-A- “stands for the proposition that families may qualify as social 

groups, but the decision must be reached on a case-by-case basis.” Id. (emphasis in 

original). Unlike in Pena Oseguera, however, at no point did any party raise an issue with 

the IJ’s finding that “immediate family members of Jose Carlos Mejia Murillo” constitutes 

a particular social group and that Morales Lopez is a member of that group. Thus, we do 

not reach the IJ’s finding and do not remand in light of Matter of L-E-A-. (We note that the 

nexus test, see infra, is a separate inquiry from whether Mejia Murillo’s immediate family 

constitutes a social group under § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i).) 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 5 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

6

Morales Lopez’s fears were supported by her expert witness,

Professor Mark Ungar, who testified that, if Morales Lopez is deported to 

Honduras, Los Vatos Locos would continue to target her. He stated that 

“one of the modus operandi of gangs is a very consistently long focus on 

targeting those that they have already attacked[;] family members, children 

of victims, . . . over a period of many years[,] continue[] to be intimidated and 

threatened by them.” Ungar testified that Morales Lopez faces a 75 to 80 

percent chance of being put in “serious danger for her life” by Los Vatos 

Locos if she is deported. Ungar stated that the Honduran police are unable 

or unwilling to protect those within their jurisdictions. Ungar also noted that 

it is “almost impossible” for a Honduran citizen to relocate within Honduras 

due to socioeconomic reasons and that Morales Lopez would be at a high risk 

of being killed by Los Vatos Locos even if she were to relocate to an area that 

Los Vatos Locos did not control. 

The IJ determined that Morales Lopez and Ungar were credible 

witnesses. Nonetheless, the IJ concluded that Morales Lopez had not 

sufficiently shown that she had suffered past persecution or had a wellfounded fear of future persecution. Accordingly, the IJ ordered that Morales 

Lopez and her daughter be removed to Honduras. The Board of Immigration 

Appeals (“BIA”) adopted the IJ’s decision and dismissed Morales Lopez’s 

appeal. Morales Lopez timely filed a petition for review. 

II.

“Courts of appeals have exclusive jurisdiction to review final orders 

of removal.” Pena Oseguera v. Barr, 936 F.3d 249, 250 (5th Cir. 2019) (citing 

8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(5)). Typically, this court reviews only the BIA’s decision 

“unless the IJ’s decision has some impact on the BIA’s decision.” Wang v. 

Holder, 569 F.3d 531, 536 (5th Cir. 2009); see also id. (“[T]his court may 

review the IJ’s findings and conclusions if the BIA adopts them.”). Here, 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 6 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

7

the BIA adopted the IJ’s decision. Thus, we may review IJ’s decision. See

Sealed Petitioner v. Sealed Respondent, 829 F.3d 379, 383 (5th Cir. 2016).

We review legal conclusions de novo, giving deference to the BIA’s or 

IJ’s interpretation of any ambiguous immigration statutes, and factual 

findings for substantial evidence. Orellana-Monson v. Holder, 685 F.3d 511, 

517–18 (5th Cir. 2012) (citing Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, 

Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 (1984)). Substantial evidence supports a finding when 

the finding is “based on the evidence presented” and is “substantially 

reasonable.” Id. We may not reverse a finding unless “the evidence was so 

compelling that no reasonable factfinder could conclude against it.” Wang, 

569 F.3d at 537; see also 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B) (“[A]dministrative findings 

of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled 

to conclude to the contrary[.]”). The petitioner carries the burden to 

demonstrate that the evidence compels a contrary conclusion, Zhao v. 

Gonzales, 404 F.3d 295, 306 (5th Cir. 2005), and must show this by a 

preponderance of the evidence. Calel-Chitic v. Holder, 333 F. App’x 845, 846 

& n.6 (5th Cir. 2009); see also, e.g., Gomes v. Gonzales, 473 F.3d 746, 753 (7th 

Cir. 2007) (“An applicant for asylum bears the burden of proving by a 

preponderance of the evidence that she qualifies as a ‘refugee’ as defined by 

the statute.”). In any case, “[i]t is the factfinder’s duty to make credibility 

determinations, and this court cannot substitute its judgment for that of the 

BIA or IJ with respect to witnesses’ credibility.” Orellana-Monson, 685 F.3d 

at 518. 

“The Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General may 

grant asylum . . . to refugee[s.]” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(A). In relevant part, 

a refugee is a person who is outside of his or her country of nationality and 

“is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself 

or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a wellfounded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 7 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

8

membership in a particular social group, or political opinion[.]” Id. § 

1101(a)(42)(A). An applicant is not entitled to asylum unless the individual 

can show “a nexus,” Pena Oseguera, 936 F.3d at 250, i.e., that his or her 

“race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or 

political opinion was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the 

applicant.” Id. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i).

“Persecution” is “[t]he infliction of suffering or harm, under 

government sanction, upon persons who differ in a way regarded as offensive 

(e.g., race, religion, political opinion, etc.), in a manner condemned by 

civilized governments.” Abdel-Masieh v. I.N.S., 73 F.3d 579, 583 (5th Cir. 

1996) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “The harm or 

suffering need not be physical, but may take other forms, such as the 

deliberate imposition of severe economic disadvantage or the deprivation of 

liberty, food, housing, employment or other essentials of life.” Id. (internal 

quotation marks and citation omitted); see also Morales v. Sessions, 860 F.3d 

812, 816 (5th Cir. 2017) (“Examples of persecution include, but are not 

limited to, threats to life, confinement, torture, and economic restrictions so 

severe that they constitute a threat to life or freedom.”) (internal quotation 

marks and citation omitted). Nonetheless, a showing of persecution 

“generally requires more than a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment 

or intimidation.” Morales, 860 F.3d at 816 (internal quotation marks and 

citation omitted). 

If an asylum applicant sufficiently establishes past persecution, he or 

she is entitled to a rebuttable presumption of a well-founded fear of future 

persecution, unless the applicant’s fear of future persecution is unrelated to 

his or her past persecution. 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(1). 

To show a well-founded fear of persecution, the applicant “must show 

that a reasonable person in the same circumstances would fear persecution if 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 8 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

9

deported.” Orellana-Monson, 685 F.3d at 518 (internal quotation marks and 

citation omitted). “The subjective fear of future persecution must be 

objectively reasonable.” Id. A “reasonable degree” can mean a ten percent 

chance. I.N.S. v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 446, 440 (1987) (“[O]ne of 

Congress’ primary purposes was to bring United States refugee law into 

conformance with the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of 

Refugees[.] . . . There is simply no room in the United Nations’ definition for 

concluding that because an applicant only has a 10% chance of being shot, 

tortured, or otherwise persecuted, that he or she has no ‘well-founded fear’ 

of the event happening.”); see also id. at 431 (“That the fear must be ‘wellfounded’ does not alter the obvious focus on the individual’s subjective 

beliefs, nor does it transform the standard into a ‘more likely than not’ one. 

One can certainly have a well-founded fear of an event happening when there 

is less than a 50% chance of the occurrence taking place.”). In other words, 

“so long as an objective situation is established by the evidence, it need not 

be shown that the situation will probably result in persecution, but it is 

enough that persecution is a reasonable possibility.” Id. at 440 (internal 

quotation marks and citation omitted).

To show his or her fear is objectively reasonable, an applicant must 

establish that:

(1) he possesses a belief or characteristic a persecutor seeks to 

overcome by means of punishment of some sort; (2) the 

persecutor is already aware, or could become aware, that the 

alien possesses this belief or characteristic; (3) the persecutor 

has the capability of punishing the alien; and[] (4) the 

persecutor has the inclination to punish the alien.

Eduard v. Ashcroft, 379 F.3d 182, 191 (5th Cir. 1995) (citing In re Mogharrabi, 

19 I. & N. Dec. 439, 446 (BIA 1987)).

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 9 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

10

The applicant must present specific, detailed facts showing a good 

reason to fear that he or she will be singled out for persecution because he or 

she differs in a way regarded as offensive (e.g., race, religion, political 

opinion, membership in a particular social group etc.). Zhao, 404 F.3d at 307. 

However, an IJ “shall not require” an applicant to provide evidence that he 

or she would be singled out if: 

(A) The applicant establishes that there is a pattern or practice 

in his or her country of nationality . . . of persecution of a group 

of persons similarly situated to the applicant on account of 

race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social 

group, or political opinion; and 

(B) The applicant establishes his or her own inclusion in, and 

identification with, such group of persons such that his or her 

fear of persecution upon return is reasonable.

8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(2)(iii); see also Zhao, 404 F.3d at 307 (“There are 

therefore two different ways for Zhao to prove the objectivity of his 

persecution claim. First, he can show that he would be singled out for 

persecution. Alternately, he can satisfy the two prongs of § 

208.13(b)(2)(iii).”).

III.

Morales Lopez argues that the IJ improperly determined that she did 

not make a sufficient showing of past persecution and a well-founded fear of 

future persecution. Regarding past persecution, Morales Lopez argues that 

the IJ erroneously (1) required each incident of harm to rise to the level of 

persecution, (2) failed to consider all relevant incidents of harm, (3) required

a showing of physical harm, and (4) failed to consider significant liberty 

deprivations suffered by Morales Lopez and her children. Morales Lopez 

further argues that (5) the substantial evidence compels a finding of past 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 10 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

11

persecution and (6) the IJ erred by failing to consider Morales Lopez’s 

psychological harm.

Regarding a well-founded fear of future persecution, Morales Lopez 

argues that the IJ erroneously (1) applied a preponderance-of-the-evidence 

standard instead of a reasonable-possibility standard; (2) failed to evaluate 

Morales Lopez’s fear of future persecution using the four-part test set forth 

in In re Mogharrabi; (3) conflated the past-persecution and well-founded-fearof-future persecution analyses, (4) required Morales Lopez to offer direct 

proof of her persecutors’ motives, and (5) mischaracterized Ungar’s 

testimony. Morales Lopez further argues that (6) the substantial evidence 

compels a finding of a well-founded fear of future persecution. 

Although we neither agree with nor reach all of Morales Lopez’s 

arguments, we agree with her overarching point: the IJ and the BIA 

improperly determined that Morales Lopez did not make a sufficient showing 

of past persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution. We 

address Morales Lopez’s arguments in turn.

A.

We summarize the relevant portions of the IJ’s and the BIA’s 

decisions as they relate to Morales Lopez’s past-persecution claim. The IJ 

identified four incidents as the bases for Morales Lopez’s claim: 

(1) on the day her husband was buried, she received a voicemail 

from her husband’s phone number consisting of a recording of 

the Vatos Locos beating her husband before they murdered 

him; (2) the week of her husband’s burial, three members of 

the Vatos Locos surrounded her as she was leaving her motherin-law’s home and told her that “the ‘tio’[7

] didn’t want to see 

[her] there anymore”; (3) about a week after her husband’s 

7 The “tio” is Abram. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 11 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

12

death, the “tio” called her from her husband’s phone and said, 

“everything that had to do with this dog would disappear”; and 

(4) she received a text message from her husband’s phone that 

read, “why are you afraid of us? Come to our neighborhood.” 

The IJ stated that “[n]one of these incidents are explicit death 

threats” but that “[Morales Lopez] interpreted the first and third incidents 

as threats that the Vatos Locos intended to kill her and [her daughter].” The 

IJ discounted the second and fourth incidents, stating that their “meaning . . 

. is uncertain, partly because [Morales Lopez] did not clarify in which 

neighborhood . . . each incident occurred and over which neighborhood the 

Vatos Locos had control.” 

Although the IJ highlighted the four incidents above, he discussed 

other incidents as well, focusing on the location where each incident occurred 

or might have occurred and whether Los Vatos Locos had control over these 

different areas.8 

The IJ stated, “there are too many unanswered questions to conclude 

that the threats [Morales Lopez] received from the Vatos Locos constitute 

past persecution.” The “unanswered questions” that the IJ referenced 

8 The IJ stated, “Neither [Morales Lopez’s] testimony nor her affidavit clarify 

whether the neighborhood over which the Vatos Locos had control was . . . where [Mejia 

Murillo] was murdered; . . . where the [third party] who picked [Mejia Murillo] up[, leading 

him to his death,] may have lived; . . . where [Mejia Murillo] began receiving threats from 

the Vatos Locos; or another neighborhood entirely.” The IJ speculated that “members of 

the Vatos Locos may have told [Morales Lopez] they ‘didn’t want to see [her] there 

anymore’ as she was leaving her mother-in-law’s house because they controlled [the 

neighborhood],” and that “[t]he text message inviting [Morales Lopez] to ‘come to our 

neighborhood’ could have indicated that she should come to [a neighborhood that Los 

Vatos Locos controlled].” Regarding Morales Lopez’s son’s encounter with Los Vatos 

Locos members outside his school, the IJ stated that the school was in Los Vatos Locos 

territory. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 12 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

13

appear to regard the location of the incidents; Los Vatos Locos’ control of 

those locations; and whether the threats against Morales Lopez were death 

threats because, in the IJ’s view, they were not “explicit death threats.” The 

IJ further reasoned that “the Vatos Locos never personally attacked or 

physically harmed [Morales Lopez].” He stated, “Without a sufficient 

explanation of the details of each encounter with the Vatos Locos and of the 

connection between all four incidents, [Morales Lopez] has left the Court 

with too much ambiguity to conclude that the threats she received amount to 

past persecution.” 

On appeal, the BIA adopted the IJ’s decision in full and also added: 

“We note that [Morales Lopez] began to receive threats from Los Vatos 

Locos as early as May 2015, when [Mejia Murillo] was murdered; yet, she 

and [her daughter] remained unharmed before leaving Honduras in February 

2016.” 

1.

Morales Lopez first argues that the IJ improperly required that each 

incident of harm rise to the level of persecution. See Lin v. Holder, 478 F. 

App’x 219, 227 (5th Cir. 2012) (“An applicant may establish past persecution 

on the basis of the cumulative effects of multiple incidents even if each 

incident, considered in isolation, would not rise to the level of persecution.”) 

(citing Eduard, 379 F.3d at 188). Morales Lopez has effectively forfeited this 

argument. 

Morales Lopez does not flesh out her argument that the IJ analyzed 

separate incidents independently; she simply recounts the IJ’s reasoning for 

finding that she did not sufficiently establish past persecution.9 But it is not 

9 Morales Lopez appears to conflate her aggregation argument with her related 

argument that the IJ did not consider all relevant incidents of harm. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 13 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

14

clear from the plain language of the IJ’s decision that he analyzed the 

incidents he considered separately from one another. In other words, 

Morales Lopez does not connect her argument to the IJ’s decision. Cf. In re 

HECI Expl. Co., Inc., 862 F.2d 513, 525 (5th Cir. 1988) (declining to address 

an issue that was listed in a brief but not otherwise argued or adequately 

briefed); Eduard, 379 F.3d at 188 (finding no error where the petitioners did 

not carry their burden to prove that the IJ analyzed each incident 

independently rather than in the aggregate). For these reasons, Morales 

Lopez has effectively forfeited her argument. 

2.

Second, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ did not consider all relevant 

incidents of harm. We agree. The IJ is not required to “address evidentiary 

minutiae or write any lengthy exegesis, [but] its decision must reflect 

meaningful consideration of the relevant substantial evidence supporting the 

alien’s claims.” Abdel-Masieh, 73 F.3d at 585 (citation omitted). And the 

BIA’s failure to consider relevant substantial evidence is a “fail[ure] to 

comply with its responsibilities.” Sanon v. I.N.S., 52 F.3d 648, 652 (7th Cir. 

1995). 

In Abdel-Masieh, the BIA decided that Abdel did not have a wellfounded fear of persecution based on the fact that “unidentified people were 

asking questions about [him] at his former work place.” 73 F.3d at 585. The 

BIA made no mention of Abdel’s testimony regarding the firing of his 

mother, the beating and questioning of his brother, or the appearance of 

Abdel’s name on a “wanted” list at the airport. Id. The court held that the 

BIA had failed to “expressly address the relevant conditions . . . and the

experiences of Abdel’s family members and co-workers.” Id. The court 

considered this a failure of the agency to comply with its responsibilities and 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 14 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

15

held that the court should “insist on its compliance rather than attempt to 

supplement its efforts.” Id. (quoting Sanon, 52 F.3d at 652).

Similarly, the IJ in this case did not meaningfully consider all relevant 

substantial evidence supporting Morales Lopez’s past persecution claim. 

First, the IJ’s consideration of past persecution does not include incidents 

involving Mejia Murillo’s relatives. Specifically, omitted from the IJ’s 

analysis are that, after Mejia Murillo’s death, (1) Mejia Murillo’s brother 

received death threats from Abram, and (2) Los Vatos Locos members 

ordered Mejia Murillo’s brother and mother to abandon their home, 

threatening by implication that they would be murdered if they did not leave. 

Threats of violence and housing deprivation against family members 

can support a finding of persecution so long as they are coupled with threats 

made directly to the petitioner. See, e.g., Tamara-Gomez v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 

343, 349 (5th Cir. 2006) (concluding that the record compelled a finding of 

persecution where it included, among other things, “threats of violence and 

acts of vandalism” against the asylum applicant’s family by members of the 

persecuting group); see also Abdel-Masieh, 73 F.3d at 583 (concluding that the 

suffering or harm necessary to a finding of persecution can include 

“deprivation of liberty, food, housing, employment or other essentials of 

life”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). By omitting the 

incidents involving Morales Lopez’s in-laws, the IJ failed to meaningfully 

consider all relevant substantial evidence supporting Morales Lopez’s past 

persecution claim. 

Second, the IJ omitted probative parts of Morales Lopez’s phone call 

with Los Vatos Locos’ leader. Although the IJ stated that Abram told 

Morales Lopez that “everything that had to do with this dog would 

disappear,” Abram also told Morales Lopez that “[Mejia Murillo] hadn’t 

been killed because he still had his wife and daughter alive” and that “they 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 15 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

16

would kill [her],” an explicit death threat. Further, when Morales Lopez told 

Abram that “[her] daughter didn’t know anything and had nothing to do with 

this,” Abram responded that “it didn’t matter, that even his mother didn’t 

matter to him,” making the death threat implicit in “everything that had to 

do with this dog would disappear” even clearer. By omitting these 

statements, the IJ again failed to meaningfully consider all relevant 

substantial evidence supporting Morales Lopez’s past persecution claim. 

The omission of these statements is particularly noteworthy because the IJ 

determined that none of the incidents he analyzed “are explicit death 

threats.” This determination supported the IJ’s finding that Morales Lopez

had not shown past persecution. At least one of the omitted statements—

that Abram told Mejia Murillo that “they would kill [her]”—directly 

contradicts the IJ’s analysis. 

Third, the IJ omitted that Los Vatos Locos members who had 

confronted Morales Lopez’s son, telling him not to return to school, had 

asked him about Morales Lopez’s whereabouts. Instead, the IJ stated only 

that “members of the Vatos Locos came to [Morales Lopez’s] son[’s] school 

and told him he could no longer attend that school because the school was in 

‘their neighborhood.’” 

Morales Lopez correctly argues that probative evidence includes 

threats the petitioner believes were aimed at her, not just threats made to her. 

See, e.g., Tamara-Gomez, 447 F.3d at 348–49. While the Los Vatos Locos 

members’ inquiry as to Morales Lopez’s whereabouts might not sufficiently 

evidence past persecution on its own, it is relevant to a showing of past 

persecution when read in relation to the other incidents. See Lin, 478 F. 

App’x at 227. Accordingly, by omitting the inquiry, the IJ did not 

meaningfully consider all relevant substantial evidence supporting Morales 

Lopez’s past persecution claim.

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 16 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

17

Ultimately, the IJ erred by failing to meaningfully consider all the 

relevant substantial evidence in support of Morales Lopez’s past persecution 

claim.10

3.

Third, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred by requiring her to 

substantiate her past persecution claim with evidence of physical harm. We 

disagree. 

The IJ stated that, although “[p]ersecution includes rape, physical 

abuse, and physical attacks[,] . . . [d]eath threats may also qualify as 

persecution if they are immediate, menacing, or the perpetrators attempt to 

follow up on them.” See Qorane v. Barr, 919 F.3d 904, 910 (5th Cir. 2019) 

(“[E]ven assuming threats can constitute past persecution, threats that are 

exaggerated, non-specific, or lacking in immediacy should not suffice.”) 

(internal quotation marks and citation omitted); cf. Morales, 860 F.3d at 816 

(“Examples of persecution include, but are not limited to, threats to life[.]”). 

It is true that the IJ concluded, in part, “[T]he Vatos Locos never 

personally attacked or physically harmed [Morales Lopez].” But that was 

10 Morales Lopez also argues, “Notably absent from the IJ’s consideration is the 

Vatos Locos’ act of recording [Mejia Murillo’s] torture prior to his death.” But the IJ 

considered the following incident: “on the day her husband was buried, [Morales Lopez]

received a voicemail from her husband’s phone number consisting of a recording of the 

Vatos Locos beating her husband before they murdered him.” Morales Lopez appears to 

argue that the IJ should have considered not only that Morales Lopez received a voicemail 

of the recording, but also that the recording was made in the first place. This argument 

splits hairs. Morales Lopez does not explain how a recording made but never sent can be a 

threat: no one would ever know about it. In other words, it is the fact that Morales Lopez 

received (and, thus, was sent) the recording that appears to matter here. What also matters 

is the content and context of the recording. The IJ considered the receipt of the recording 

and its content and context, and Morales Lopez does not argue otherwise. Accordingly, 

that the IJ did not consider Los Vatos Locos’ act of making the recording is unavailing.

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 17 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

18

not the beginning and end of the IJ’s analysis. While the IJ did not consider 

all relevant substantial evidence, it appears that he analyzed whether the 

threats that he did consider were immediate, menacing, or the perpetrators 

attempted to follow up on them.11 In other words, it does not appear that the 

IJ required a showing of physical harm, contrary to Morales Lopez’s 

contention.

4.

Fourth, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred by failing to consider 

the liberty deprivations she and her children faced because of Los Vatos 

Locos’ actions. Specifically, Morales Lopez argues that Los Vatos Locos’ 

actions forced her and her children to relocate, prevented her children from 

attending school, and caused her to separate herself from most of her 

children. See Abdel-Masieh, 73 F.3d at 583. We lack jurisdiction to consider 

this argument. 

Morales Lopez failed to exhaust her administrative remedies as to this 

issue because she did not raise the issue before the BIA, either on direct 

appeal or in a motion to reopen. See Heaven v. Gonzales, 473 F.3d 167, 177 

11 The IJ stated: 

Without a sufficient explanation of the details of each encounter with the 

Vatos Locos and of the connection between all four incidents, [Morales 

Lopez] has left the Court with too much ambiguity to conclude that the 

threats she received amount to past persecution. Compare HernandezBaena [v. Gonzalez], 417 F.3d [720,] 723 [(7th Cir. 2005)] (finding that a 

verbal death threat over the phone was not “of a sufficiently immediate 

and menacing nature as to constitute, without more, persecution”), with 

Tamara-Gomez, 447 F.3d at 346 (finding past persecution where those who 

threatened the applicant also threatened to kill the applicant’s family 

members and murdered other individuals similarly situated to the 

applicant).

Morales Lopez does not address this language. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 18 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

19

(5th Cir. 2006); 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d) (“A court may review a final order of 

removal only if . . . (1) the alien has exhausted all administrative remedies 

available to the alien as of right, and (2) another court has not decided the 

validity of the order[.]”); see also Omari v. Holder, 562 F.3d 314, 322–23 (5th 

Cir. 2009) (concluding that, for purposes of exhaustion, petitioners must 

make “some concrete statement before the BIA to which they could 

reasonably tie their claims before this court”). Since exhaustion in this 

context is a statutory mandate, Morales Lopez’s failure to exhaust the issue 

deprives us of jurisdiction over it. See Wang v. Ashcroft, 260 F.3d 448, 452 

(5th Cir. 2001); see also Said v. Gonzales, 488 F.3d 668, 670–71 (5th Cir. 2007) 

(concluding that we must raise jurisdictional issues sua sponte, if necessary). 

5.

Fifth, Morales Lopez argues that the relevant substantial evidence, 

when considered together, compels a finding of past persecution. We agree.

Our court’s decision in Tamara-Gomez is illuminating. There, the IJ 

denied Tamara-Gomez’s asylum application, which claimed past 

persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution, and the BIA 

affirmed. Tamara-Gomez, 447 F.3d at 345. Underlying Tamara-Gomez’s 

claims were these facts: Tamara-Gomez noticed men filming him as he and 

Colombian National Police (“CNP”) officers were completing a mission in 

July 2001. Tamara-Gomez, 447 F.3d at 345–46. CNP officers captured one 

of the men who was filming the mission, a member of Fuerzas Armadas 

Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”). Id. at 346. The FARC member 

turned to Tamara-Gomez and shouted, “We know who you are,” and, “You 

will suffer retaliation.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). 

About one month after the incident, Tamara-Gomez began to receive 

threatening calls, specifically mentioning the mission, on his personal cell 

phone. Id. The callers identified Tamara-Gomez’s family and began calling 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 19 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

20

Tamara-Gomez’s home, threatening Tamara-Gomez and his family. Id. 

Tamara-Gomez asked the CNP for protection but was told that the CNP 

could not protect him and his family. Id. 

Subsequently, Tamara-Gomez and his family moved to another 

house, but the threatening phone calls resumed within weeks. Id. TamaraGomez’s wife also received “demands for money, death threats to her 

husband, and threats to kidnap her two sons and train them to fight for 

FARC.” Id. The actors making the threats and demands identified 

themselves as FARC members. Id.

Then, in January 2002, “a bicycle bomb exploded in [ ] TamaraGomez’s new neighborhood, killing five (none of the victims were members 

of Tamara-Gomez’s family).” Id. After this incident, in March 2002, 

Tamara-Gomez sent his wife and children to Florida on visas obtained prior 

to the FARC threats. Id. At some point between March 2002 and late 

summer 2002, Tamara-Gomez “learned that FARC had tracked down and 

murdered other participants (or the family members of participants) in the 

June 2001” mission. Id. Believing his life was in danger, Tamara-Gomez 

entered the United States on a visitor’s visa on July 24, 2002. Id. A few 

weeks after his departure, a vandal broke into Tamara-Gomez’s home and 

spray painted the words “Sapa Regaldo,” which means “Two-Bit Snitch,” 

and the letters “FARC.” Id.

Despite the evidence above, the IJ determined that Tamara-Gomez 

was ineligible for asylum because he failed to demonstrate past persecution 

or a well-founded fear of future persecution. See id. at 348. On review, this 

court concluded that the IJ, whose decision the BIA affirmed in its entirety, 

“discarded all evidence of persecution” even though the IJ found TamaraCase: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 20 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

21

Gomez credible and ostensibly “accept[ed] his account” of the facts.12 Id.

(internal quotation marks omitted). The court reconsidered the evidence, 

stating: 

When we consider the evidence as a whole, which the IJ 

apparently failed to do, we find that Tamara-Gomez has made 

a compelling case of persecution. Based on the documentary 

evidence, the well-supported testimony of Tamara-Gomez that 

was specifically found by the IJ to be credible, the threats of 

violence and acts of vandalism against Tamara-Gomez and his 

family by persons identified as members of FARC, and the fact 

that the violent threats against other participants of the same 

helicopter mission were carried out, a “reasonable 

adjudicator” would be “compelled” to find that TamaraGomez had been persecuted or had a “well founded fear of 

future harm.” Consequently, the IJ’s finding to the contrary 

was error.

Id. at 348–49 (footnotes omitted). 

As in Tamara-Gomez, the IJ here did not consider the evidence as a 

whole. A reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to find that Morales 

Lopez had been persecuted based on Los Vatos Locos’ murdering Morales

Lopez’s husband after the gang threatened and harassed him over the span 

12 The Tamara-Gomez court described the IJ’s analysis of the evidence:

Specifically, the IJ dealt with the evidence as follows: 

First, the IJ found the “bomb incident” to be “a random 

act of violence all too common in Colombia and unrelated 

to the respondent or his wife.” Second, the IJ found that 

the “home invasion . . . may have been a purely criminal 

act against a target of opportunity.” Third, the IJ 

dismissed the threatening phone calls by finding that “it 

was far from clear whether they were serious or the acts 

of persons who enjoy terrorizing their neighbors.”

Tamara-Gomez, 447 F.3d at 348 n.6. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 21 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

22

of two years; the multiple and varied menacing threats of harm against 

Morales Lopez and her family by Los Vatos Locos members following Mejia 

Murillo’s death, including an explicit death threat to Morales Lopez; the 

brutal attack on Morales Lopez’s cousin soon after Morales Lopez sighted a 

Los Vatos Locos member in her cousin’s neighborhood; and the credited 

expert testimony that gangs in Honduras such as Los Vatos Locos 

persistently target and then kill the family members of their victims 

regardless of gang territorial lines, and that Morales Lopez faces a 75 to 80 

percent chance of being put in “serious danger for her life” by Los Vatos 

Locos if she is deported. Cf. Hernandez-Baena v. Gonzales, 417 F.3d 720, 723 

(7th Cir. 2005) (concluding that applicant who “supplied no evidence that 

the use of the term ‘death sentence’ by the person who telephoned his office 

in Pereira had significance as anything other than a verbal threat,” and who 

“remained in Pereira for seven months after the threatening call without 

experiencing any further harm or threat of harm,” did not experience a threat 

that was “sufficiently immediate and menacing . . . as to constitute, without 

more, persecution.”).

Disregarding relevant substantial evidence, the IJ and the BIA 

prematurely foreclosed Morales Lopez’s past-persecution claim. The 

reasoning they employed bears consideration. First, the IJ appeared to place 

heavy weight on his view that Morales Lopez was not explicitly threatened 

with death. Second, the IJ also appeared to place heavy weight on the fact 

that it is unclear where many of the incidents occurred and whether the 

incidents occurred in Los Vatos Locos territory. Third, the IJ reasoned that 

“the Vatos Locos never personally attacked or physically harmed [Morales 

Lopez].” The BIA reflected this reasoning when it noted that Los Vatos 

Locos first threatened Morales Lopez nine to ten months before she fled 

Honduras and that, at no point during that time, was she or her daughter 

physically harmed. Fourth, the IJ discounted Morales Lopez’s failed efforts 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 22 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

23

to escape Los Vatos Locos by moving in with her cousin.13 Specifically, the 

IJ did not fully credit Morales Lopez’s account that she spotted a Los Vatos 

Locos member in her cousin’s neighborhood and that Los Vatos Locos was 

behind her cousin’s attack. Further, the BIA’s focus on the time between 

when Morales Lopez received threats and when she fled Honduras ignores 

that Morales Lopez made efforts to escape Los Vatos Locos. We address 

each point in turn. 

First, contrary to the IJ’s determination, Abram explicitly threatened 

Morales Lopez with death. See supra. Second, the IJ’s own summary of 

Ungar’s testimony undermines the relevance of Los Vatos Locos’ territorial 

lines: 

Professor Ungar . . . explained that “one of the modus operandi 

of gangs is a very consistently long focus on targeting those that 

they have already attacked.” [Morales Lopez’s] “level of 

threat continues” even if she “move[s] to another part[] of the 

country, [or] return[s] after many [sic] many years” because 

“family networks, knowledge of families, community, peoples’ 

knowledge of each other doesn’t change that much.” 

Therefore, [Morales Lopez’s] “presence [would] become[] 

well-known” if she were to return, and “the threats [might] 

coalesce back into place.” Professor Ungar concluded that 

[Morales Lopez] will face a 75 to 80 percent chance of “be[ing] 

in serious danger for her life” if she returns to Honduras. 

. . .

[Ungar] explained that these gangs

have very close coordination networks. . . . 

[T]hey know who moves around the country. . . . 

[T]hey have an affiliate or a connection in 

13 While the IJ discussed this incident in his well-founded-fear-of-futurepersecution analysis, the incident is relevant to Morales Lopez’s past-persecution claim. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 23 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

24

another part of the country who will alert them 

to the presence of this person. This also goes 

through Central America[.] [W]hen people flee, 

their whereabouts are often known outside the 

country. 

Therefore, the gangs likely would have been able to track 

[Morales Lopez’s] whereabouts. If she were returned to 

Honduras, [Morales Lopez] would “most likely” suffer from 

“rape, torture, assault, intimidation, and . . . a very [sic] 

likelihood of homicide . . . because of the pattern that [the 

gangs] have already established against her and her family.” 

The IJ found Ungar’s testimony credible, and there is no evidence in 

the record contradicting his testimony. The evidence shows that the mere 

fact of territorial lines would not protect an individual from Los Vatos Locos. 

As the IJ stated, Mejia Murillo was lured from the Felipe Celaya 

neighborhood, where he lived, to the Rivera Hernandez neighborhood, where 

he was killed. 

Third, the IJ reasoned that “the Vatos Locos never personally 

attacked or physically harmed [Morales Lopez].” Although the BIA adopted 

the IJ’s analysis, it also added: “We note that [Morales Lopez] began to 

receive threats from Los Vatos Locos as early as May 2015, when [Mejia 

Murillo] was murdered; yet, she and [her daughter] remained unharmed 

before leaving Honduras in February 2016.” However, as the IJ stated, Mejia 

Murillo began receiving threats from Los Vatos Locos two years before he 

was murdered. That Morales Lopez or her daughter was not murdered or 

otherwise physically harmed in the nine or ten months between May 2015 

and February 2016 is not probative of past persecution. See Abdel-Masieh, 73 

F.3d at 583 (including in the definition of “persecution” “[t]he infliction of 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 24 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

25

suffering or harm” and stating that “[t]he harm or suffering need not be 

physical”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 

Fourth, the IJ discounted the fact that Morales Lopez’s efforts to 

escape Los Vatos Locos ultimately failed. Similarly, the BIA’s focus on the 

time between when Morales Lopez received threats and when she fled 

Honduras ignores that Morales Lopez made efforts to escape Los Vatos 

Locos. 

In June 2015, Morales Lopez left her sons in the care of her sister, 

thinking that they would be safer if they stayed apart from her and her 

daughter, who Los Vatos Locos had threatened to kill. At the same time, 

Morales Lopez and her daughter moved in with Morales Lopez’s cousin in a 

neighborhood different from her sister’s. Morales Lopez’s affidavit stated 

that, in late January or early February 2016, Morales Lopez saw a car in her 

cousin’s neighborhood “that was being driven by one of the men that had 

killed [her] husband. [She] was very scared, because this was a private 

neighborhood, not a thoroughfare, so [she] felt that he was out looking for 

[them].” However, Morales Lopez recounted the incident somewhat 

differently in her removal-hearing testimony, stating that she “was behind 

[her] cousin’s house [when she] saw a bus go by and . . . saw one of the gang 

members.” 

Notably, quoting Morales Lopez’s psychological assessment, the IJ 

stated: “[Morales Lopez] may have difficulty accessing specific details of the 

trauma she has suffered due to her [post-traumatic stress disorder] diagnosis. 

These symptoms substantiate rather than undermine, the credibility of her 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 25 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

26

account of traumatic experience.” And the IJ found Morales Lopez 

“credible” without qualification.14 

Within a week of seeing the Los Vatos Locos member in her 

neighborhood, Morales Lopez’s “cousin was attacked by unknown 

assailants. They cut the side of his face with a machete and cut his wrist so 

badly that his tendons were cut and he could not move his fingers.” Morales 

Lopez’s cousin “hadn’t had any problems with gangs or anyone else, so 

[Morales Lopez and her cousin] suspected that it was people who were after 

[Morales Lopez] and [her] family. [Morales Lopez’s] cousin told [Morales 

Lopez] that he would be unable to continue to protect [her] [sic] that [they] 

should all flee[.]” 

The IJ found Morales Lopez’s account of seeing a Los Vatos Locos 

member in a car or bus “somewhat implausible,” reasoning: 

First, [Morales Lopez] did not explain how she would have 

been able to identify a passenger on a moving bus or the driver 

of a moving car from behind her cousin’s house. Unless 

[Morales Lopez] was close to the street and the car or bus was 

moving slowly, the Court does not understand how she would 

have been able to identify her husband’s assailant. Second, 

[Morales Lopez] never even established which gang member 

killed her husband and how she would have known who killed 

him. The Court found her testimony regarding the murder of 

her husband credible, but notes that she never identified her 

husband’s killer clearly enough for the Court to be persuaded 

that she was able to identify him from inside a moving vehicle. 

14 While the IJ noted, for example, that “[Morales Lopez] did not always specify 

the area in which a particular incident occurred,” this did not affect his credibility finding. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 26 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

27

“It is the factfinder’s duty to make determinations based on the 

credibility of the witnesses.” Zhang v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 339, 344 (5th Cir. 

2005) (internal quotation marks, brackets, and citation omitted). “Still, an 

adverse credibility determination must be supported by specific and cogent 

reasons derived from the record.” Id. (collecting cases). Again, the IJ here 

explicitly found Morales Lopez credible, devoting a section of his decision to 

a discussion of her credibility. It is not clear why the IJ would find that 

Morales Lopez is credible and then seemingly backtrack as to one incident 

later in his decision. It is not implausible that Morales Lopez would be able 

to identify a Los Vatos Locos member who passed by her in a car or bus, as 

the IJ himself noted: “Unless [Morales Lopez] was close to the street and the 

car or bus was moving slowly, the Court does not understand how she would 

have been able to identify her husband’s assailant.” The IJ merely speculated 

that Morales Lopez could not have seen any person in a passing car or bus. 

In other words, the IJ’s determination that it was “somewhat implausible” 

for Morales Lopez to see a Los Vatos Locos member in the circumstances 

she described is not supported “by specific and cogent reasons derived from 

the record.” See Zhang, 432 F.3d at 344. 

Further, although Morales Lopez’s affidavit stated that Morales 

Lopez saw “one of the men that had killed [her] husband,” Morales Lopez 

testified that she “saw one of the gang members.” The IJ does not address 

Morales Lopez’s testimony statement and focuses only on her affidavit 

statement. It is not implausible that Morales Lopez would refer to any Los 

Vatos Locos member as a person who had killed her husband. Again, the IJ’s 

“somewhat implausible” determination as to Morales Lopez’s account is not 

supported by specific and cogent reasons derived from the record, 

particularly following the IJ’s finding that Morales Lopez is credible. Cf.

Zhao, 404 F.3d at 310 (“The IJ credited all of Zhao’s testimony but 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 27 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

28

interpreted it in such a way that allowed her to rule against him on grounds 

of legal sufficiency.”). 

In any case, the IJ discounted Morales Lopez’s testimony that the men 

who attacked her cousin were Los Vatos Locos members, stating that “the 

documentary evidence shows that no Honduran is safe from violent crime.” 

The IJ in Tamara-Gomez made a similar determination regarding the bike 

bomb in that case. 447 F.3d at 348 n.6 (“[T]he IJ found the ‘bomb incident’

to be ‘a random act of violence all too common in Colombia and unrelated to 

the respondent or his wife.’”). However, the Tamara-Gomez court 

concluded, “Considered in isolation the bike bomb may in fact have been a 

‘random act of violence.’ Yet, in the light of the other occurrences it is not 

unreasonable to believe that the bomb was targeted at Tamara-Gomez and/or 

his family.” Id. at 348 n.7. The same is true here. Given the other incidents, 

it is not unreasonable to believe that the attack on Morales Lopez’s cousin 

was perpetrated by Los Vatos Locos.

Ultimately, the relevant substantial evidence—when considered as a 

whole—compels a finding of past persecution. 

6.

Sixth, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred by failing to consider the 

psychological harm she suffered. Morales Lopez received a psychological 

assessment showing that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder 

because of “her experience of being raped, the killings of her partners and 

her own experience of being threatened with death by gang members in 

Honduras.”15 It is not clear, however, whether the IJ’s omission of 

psychological harm is error. See, e.g., Karanja v. Keisler, 251 F. App’x 891, 

15 Two of Morales Lopez’s partners prior to her relationship to Mejia Murillo had 

been killed in incidents that Morales Lopez does not connect to Los Vatos Locos. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 28 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

29

892 (5th Cir. 2007) (noting a lack of authority concluding that emotional 

distress is a type of harm that constitutes past persecution); cf. Scott Rempell, 

Defining Persecution, 2013 UTAH L. REV. 283, 297 (2013) (arguing that 

“psychological harms should be recognized as a distinct component of a 

persecution analysis”). Morales Lopez does not rely on any binding 

authority that supports her argument that psychological harm may qualify as 

past persecution.16 We need not resolve this question, however, because the 

other evidence discussed above compels a finding of past persecution.

B.

Turning to Morales Lopez’s well-founded fear of future persecution 

claim, we summarize the relevant portions of the IJ’s and the BIA’s 

decisions. 

The IJ did not dispute Morales Lopez’s subjective fear of future 

persecution if she were deported to Honduras.17 However, the IJ determined 

that Morales Lopez failed to establish that her fear was objectively 

reasonable. The IJ stated, “As previously explained, the threats [Morales 

Lopez] personally received were too vague to qualify as past persecution.” 

The BIA echoed this reasoning in its decision, stating, “The [IJ] properly 

found that [Morales Lopez] presented insufficient evidence that she 

16 Morales Lopez relies on In re A-K-, a BIA decision, which states that past 

persecution can be established “where a person persecutes someone close to an applicant, 

such as a spouse, parent, child or other relative, with the intended purposes of causing 

emotional harm to the applicant, but does not directly harm the applicant himself.” 24 I. 

& N. Dec. 275, 278 (BIA 2007). 

17 The IJ did not explicitly state that Morales Lopez established a subjective fear of 

future harm, but he effectively stated as much: “The Court understands that [Morales 

Lopez] fears the Vatos Locos will subject her to further threats and physical harm because 

of her relationship with [Mejia Murillo] if she returns to Honduras.” The BIA, which 

adopted the IJ’s decision, more explicitly stated the same: “[Morales Lopez] has 

established that she has a subjective fear of future harm in Honduras[.]” 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 29 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

30

specifically would be targeted for persecution . . . . As discussed above, 

[Morales Lopez’s] past experiences with Vatos Locos gang does [sic] not 

amount to persecution.” 

The IJ further determined that the “descriptions of the incidents 

involving other members of [Mejia Murillo’s] family lacked detail.” In 

particular, the IJ discussed four incidents. First, Mejia Murillo’s brother 

received what Morales Lopez described as “death threats” from Los Vatos 

Locos’ leader following Mejia Murillo’s death. The IJ discounted the threats 

because “[Morales Lopez] never explained what the threat to [Mejia 

Murillo’s brother] entailed or how it was connected to [Mejia Murillo].” 

Second, a few weeks to a month after Mejia Murillo’s murder, Mejia 

Murillo’s mother and brother abandoned their house at the direction of Los 

Vatos Locos members who implied that they would kill them if they did not 

leave the house within 72 hours of their order to vacate. The IJ discounted 

this incident, stating, “While the timing of this incident within a few weeks 

of [Mejia Murillo’s] death could indicate that the Vatos Locos targeted 

[Mejia Murillo’s mother and brother] because of their family ties to [Mejia 

Murillo], the gang may have forced [Mejia Murillo’s] family members out of 

their home for other reasons.” The IJ speculated that “the gang may have 

been asserting their authority, not targeting the family members of [Mejia 

Murillo].” Relying on Ungar’s testimony, the IJ stated that gang-controlled 

neighborhoods like the one Mejia Murillo’s mother and brother were living 

in are “very restricted” and that “gangs’ violence against residents in their 

areas of control can seem gratuitous and unpredictable.” For this reason, the 

IJ concluded: “[T]he fact that the Vatos Locos told [Mejia Murillo’s mother 

and brother] to leave their home without additional information does not 

establish a connection to [Mejia Murillo’s] death.” The BIA summarized 

the IJ’s analysis and then added: “We note that there is no indication from 

the record that [Mejia Murillo’s] mother and brother have been harmed.” 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 30 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

31

Third, a week or two after Mejia Murillo’s death, Los Vatos Locos 

members confronted Morales Lopez’s son at his school, asking him where 

Morales Lopez was and forbidding him to return to school. None of Morales 

Lopez’s children returned to school that year. The IJ discounted this 

incident, stating, “[g]iven the extensive control the Vatos Locos seemed to 

have over the neighborhood, it is not clear that [Morales Lopez’s son’s] 

encounter with the Vatos Locos was connected to [Mejia Murillo].” The IJ 

speculated that “the encounter could have been an instance of forced 

recruitment.” 

Fourth, the IJ analyzed the incident in which (1) Morales Lopez saw a 

Los Vatos Locos member in her cousin’s neighborhood and (2) Morales 

Lopez’s cousin was brutally attacked. Because we previously discussed the 

IJ’s analysis, we do not repeat it here. 

The IJ stated, “While the Court appreciates the past trauma [Morales 

Lopez] suffered and the difficulty of returning to a country where she was 

raped and where her husband was murdered, the Court cannot conclude that 

[Morales Lopez’s] fear of future persecution . . . is well-founded.” 

1.

Morales Lopez first argues that the IJ erred in applying a 

preponderance-of-the-evidence standard instead of a reasonable-possibility

standard. Relatedly, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ failed to evaluate 

Morales Lopez’s fear of future persecution using the four-part test set forth 

in In re Mogharrabi. We cannot reach these arguments, however, because 

Morales Lopez failed to raise them before the BIA. In other words, we lack 

jurisdiction to consider the arguments. See Wang, 260 F.3d at 452.

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 31 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

32

2.

Second, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred by conflating the pastpersecution and well-founded-fear-of-persecution analyses. We agree. 

The IJ stated in support of his finding that Morales Lopez’s fear was 

not objectively reasonable: “As previously explained, the threats [Morales 

Lopez] personally received were too vague to qualify as past persecution.” 

The BIA mirrored the IJ, stating: “As discussed above, the respondent’s past 

experiences with the Vatos Locos gang does [sic] not amount to 

persecution.” Accordingly, the IJ (and the BIA) did not discuss the threats 

against Morales Lopez in his well-founded-fear-of-persecution analysis. 

“[D]espite finding adversely on claims of past persecution, the IJ must 

determine whether the petitioner demonstrated a well-founded fear of future 

persecution if asserted.” Cabrera v. Sessions, 890 F.3d 153, 159 (5th Cir. 

2018). The IJ echoed this logic earlier in his decision when he analyzed 

Morales Lopez’s past-persecution claim: “[Morales Lopez] has not 

established that she suffered past persecution[.] However, the threats she 

received following the death of her husband may establish a well-founded fear 

of persecution[.]” But, then, he did not analyze the threats against Morales 

Lopez through the lens of her well-founded-fear-of-persecution claim. Cf.

Orellana-Monson, 685 F.3d at 518 (concluding that a successful well-foundedfear-of-persecution claim requires the applicant to “show that a reasonable 

person in the same circumstances would fear persecution if deported”) 

(internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Accordingly, the IJ erred. 

3.

Third, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred by requiring direct proof 

of her persecutors’ motives. In other words, Morales Lopez argues that the 

IJ required direct proof that, as the IJ put it, the “encounter[s] with the Vatos 

Locos [were] connected to [Mejia Murillo].” Cf. Sharma v. Holder, 729 F.3d 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 32 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

33

407, 412 (5th Cir. 2013) (“The alien carries the burden to establish a nexus 

between the persecution and one of the five statutory grounds for asylum.”) 

(internal quotation marks and citation omitted). We agree.

A petitioner is not required to provide direct proof of a persecutor’s 

motives, but the petitioner “must provide some evidence of it, direct or 

circumstantial.” I.N.S. v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483 (1992) (emphasis 

in original). Further, fear of future persecution cannot be “negated simply 

because of general violence and civil disorder.” Eduard, 379 F.3d at 190 

(emphasis omitted). “Congress no doubt anticipated that citizens of 

countries rife with general violence and civil disorder would seek asylum in 

the United States. If it had intended to deny refugee status to applicants from 

such countries, . . . it would have presumably stated so.” Id. 

While “an applicant’s fear of persecution cannot be based solely on 

general violence and civil disorder,” id. (emphasis in original), Morales 

Lopez’s fear is not so based. Nonetheless, the IJ speculated that Los Vatos 

Locos’ motives behind their encounters with Morales Lopez’s family 

members were based on the general state of violence and civil disorder in 

Honduras. The IJ improperly negated each encounter for this reason. Cf. id. 

As a result, it is unclear how Morales Lopez could have proved her claim 

without direct proof of Los Vatos Locos’ motives. Accordingly, the IJ erred.

4.

Fourth, Morales Lopez argues that the IJ erred because he 

mischaracterized and did not meaningfully consider Ungar’s testimony.18 

We agree. 

18 Morales Lopez generally argued that the “IJ ignored expert evidence that 

directly supported [Morales Lopez’s] claim to have suffered past persecution and to have 

a well-founded fear of persecution.” However, Morales Lopez tied her argument to an 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 33 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

34

As stated earlier, the IJ is not required to “address evidentiary 

minutiae or write any lengthy exegesis, [but] its decision must reflect 

meaningful consideration of the relevant substantial evidence supporting the 

alien’s claims.” Abdel-Masieh, 73 F.3d at 585 (citation omitted); see also Cole 

v. Holder, 659 F.3d 762, 771–72 (9th Cir. 2011) (“[W]here there is any 

indication that the BIA did not consider all of the evidence before it, a catchall 

phrase does not suffice, and the decision cannot stand. Such indications 

include misstating the record and failing to mention highly probative or 

potentially dispositive evidence.”); Zhao, 404 F.3d at 310 (“The IJ credited 

all of Zhao’s testimony but interpreted it in such a way that allowed her to 

rule against him on grounds of legal sufficiency. The IJ’s summary of Zhao’s 

testimony consists entirely of conclusory remarks, mischaracterizations of 

various events, and non-sequit[u]rs.”). 

Here, no evidence in the record contradicts Ungar’s testimony, and 

the IJ found Ungar’s testimony credible without qualification. Nonetheless, 

the IJ stated that “gangs’ violence against residents in their areas of control 

‘can seem gratuitous and unpredictable,’” focusing on only a partial 

statement from Ungar’s testimony. Using Ungar’s statement, the IJ negated 

Morales Lopez’s testimony “simply because of general violence and civil 

disorder.” Eduard, 379 F.3d at 190. However, the full sentence from 

Ungar’s testimony is, “So in one sense, there’s a structure of these gangs, on 

the other hand sometimes their violence can seem gratuitous and 

example from only the IJ’s well-founded-fear-of-persecution analysis. Thus, we consider 

Morales Lopez’s argument only as it pertains to the IJ’s well-founded-fear-of-persecution 

analysis. See In re HECI Expl. Co., Inc., 862 F.2d at 525. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 34 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

35

unpredictable.”19 As Ungar stated in the same sentence, “there’s a structure 

of these gangs,” which the IJ apparently ignored. 

Speaking to the “structure” of gangs such as Los Vatos Locos 

elsewhere in his testimony, Ungar stated: “[O]ne of the modus operandi of 

gangs is a very consistently long focus on targeting those that they have 

already attacked, family members, children of victims, cousins, you know, 

anyone related to a person, over a period of many years continues to be 

intimidated and threatened by them.” Ungar effectively stated that Morales 

Lopez has a target on her back, concluding that there is “a very [sic] 

likelihood of homicide if she were returned. Because of what is—the pattern 

that they’ve already established against her and her family. The next step 

would be, and it has been for other families, murder, attacks on their lives.” 

Accordingly, the IJ erred by mischaracterizing and failing to 

meaningfully consider Ungar’s testimony.

5.

Finally, Morales Lopez argues that the relevant substantial evidence 

compels a well-founded-fear-of-future-persecution finding. We agree. 

Because Morales Lopez has shown past persecution, she is entitled to a 

rebuttable presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution. 8 C.F.R. 

§ 208.13(b)(1). But even if that presumption were not to apply, Morales 

Lopez has demonstrated, by a preponderance of the evidence, that there is a 

19 Morales Lopez emphasizes that Ungar stated that gangs’ violence can “seem” 

gratuitous or unpredictable (presumably, as opposed to “is” gratuitous or unpredictable). 

But this places too much weight on the word “seem.” In his preceding sentence, Ungar 

stated that sometimes gangs “want to attack somebody” but also sometimes “they’re high 

on drugs and they carry out an act of violence.” .

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 35 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

36

“reasonable possibility” that she would be persecuted if deported.20 See

Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 440 (concluding that a “reasonable possibility” 

can mean a ten percent chance). 

In the first instance, it is undisputed that Morales Lopez established 

subjective fear of future persecution. Next, we determine whether the 

relevant substantial evidence would compel a reasonable adjudicator to find 

that Morales Lopez established objective fear. We apply the four steps 

articulated in In re Mogharrabi. See Eduard, 379 F.3d at 191.

First, Morales Lopez possesses a “characteristic” that Los Vatos 

Locos “seeks to overcome by means of punishment of some sort.” See id. 

Specifically, Los Vatos Locos seeks to overcome Morales Lopez’s 

membership in the particular social group of “immediate family members of 

Jose Carlos Mejia Murillo” by means of torture or death. Los Vatos Locos 

tortured and murdered her husband after the gang threatened and harassed 

him over the span of two years. Following his murder, Los Vatos Locos 

leveled multiple and varied menacing threats of harm against Morales Lopez, 

including an explicit death threat. Several of these threats referred to Mejia 

Murillo specifically and made clear that Morales Lopez was a target because 

of her relationship to Mejia Murillo. 

Second, Los Vatos Locos is already aware that Morales Lopez is an 

immediate family member of Mejia Murillo. See id. As stated above, several 

of Los Vatos Locos’ threats of harm against Morales Lopez referred to Mejia 

Murillo specifically and Morales Lopez’s relationship to him. 

Third, Los Vatos Locos has “the capability of punishing” Morales 

Lopez. See id. Mejia Murillo’s death at the hands of Los Vatos Locos shows 

20 In other words, Morales Lopez has shown that it is more likely than not that she 

would face a ten percent chance or more of persecution if deported. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 36 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

37

this. So, too, does the brutal attack on Morales Lopez’s cousin and Los Vatos 

Locos’ ordering Mejia Murillo’s family members to vacate their house. As 

Morales Lopez recounted, a few months before her husband’s murder, Los 

Vatos Locos had killed her neighbor and, several months later, killed his wife. 

And Ungar’s testimony supports the fact that Los Vatos Locos is capable of 

punishing Morales Lopez. Again, he stated that there is “a very [sic] 

likelihood of homicide if [Morales Lopez] were returned. Because of what 

is—the pattern that they’ve already established against her and her family. 

The next step would be, and it has been for other families, murder, attacks 

on their lives.” 

Fourth, Los Vatos Locos “has the inclination to punish” Morales 

Lopez. See id. Ungar’s testimony establishes this. As stated previously, 

Ungar testified: “[O]ne of the modus operandi of gangs is a very consistently 

long focus on targeting those that they have already attacked, family 

members, children of victims, cousins, you know, anyone related to a person, 

over a period of many years continues to be intimidated and threatened by 

them.”21 Ungar stated that Morales Lopez faces a 75 to 80 percent chance 

of being put in “serious danger for her life” by Los Vatos Locos if she is 

deported. 

21 Ungar additionally stated: 

The threats made against [Morales Lopez] are consistent with one of the most wellknown practices of these criminal groups: the persistent targeting of specific 

individuals, couples, or families. In many areas, for example, gangs will attack 

every member of the family of a business owner who does not pay the war taxes. 

Families of ex-girlfriends, wayward members, or anyone seen as cooperating with 

the police are all in the crossfire, and with a relentlessness that survives time. . . . 

Anyone suspected of being affiliated with rival groups . . . makes them particularly 

vulnerable to attack. [Morales Lopez’s] long connection with the drug gangs, 

derivative of her marriage to her now deceased husband, clearly creates such 

vulnerability for her.

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 37 Date Filed: 03/19/2021
No. 18-60251

38

Overall, Morales Lopez presented “specific, detailed facts showing a 

good reason to fear that . . . she will be singled out for persecution.” OrellanaMonson, 685 F.3d at 518 (emphasis omitted). 

Accordingly, the relevant substantial evidence—when considered as 

a whole—compels a well-founded-fear-of-future-persecution finding. 

IV.

For the reasons above, we GRANT, in part, and DENY, in part, the 

petition; REVERSE the IJ’s order of removal; and REMAND for any 

further necessary proceedings in accordance with this opinion. 

Case: 18-60251 Document: 00515788451 Page: 38 Date Filed: 03/19/2021