Court Opinion

ID: 9957645
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-04 19:01:09.488443+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:32.645947
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        APR 4 2024
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

RIGABERTO PASTOR WILSON-                        No. 22-695
GARCIA,                                         Agency No.
                                                A071-831-143
             Petitioner,

 v.                                             MEMORANDUM*

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,

             Respondent.

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

                            Submitted March 26, 2024**

Before:      TASHIMA, SILVERMAN, and KOH, Circuit Judges.

      Rigaberto Pastor Wilson-Garcia, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions pro

se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing her appeal from

an immigration judge’s decision denying her application for deferral of removal

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
      **
             The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under

8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings.

Conde Quevedo v. Barr, 947 F.3d 1238, 1241 (9th Cir. 2020). We grant the

petition for review and remand.

      The agency found that Wilson-Garcia failed to show it is more likely than

not she would be tortured by or with the consent or acquiescence of the

government if returned to Honduras. Substantial evidence does not support this

finding. See 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.16(c)(3), 1208.18(a)(1), (7). Specifically, the

country conditions evidence in the record includes reports of an increasing level of

violence towards transgender people in 2019, with Honduras estimated as having

one of the highest murders rates for transgender people in the world, the arbitrary

arrests of transgender women, the role state security agents had in violence against

LGBTQ+ people, and a restriction in legal protections.

      Because the agency failed to address this relevant evidence, we grant the

petition for review and remand Wilson-Garcia’s CAT claim to the agency for

further proceedings consistent with this disposition. See INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S.

12, 16-18 (2002) (per curiam); Parada v. Sessions, 902 F.3d 901, 914-16 (9th Cir.

2018) (court remanded where “the agency erred by failing to consider all relevant

evidence” as to CAT relief); Cole v. Holder, 659 F.3d 762, 771-72 (9th Cir. 2011)

                                        2                                    22-695
(indications of the agency’s failure to properly consider all of the relevant evidence

include “failing to mention highly probative or potentially dispositive evidence”).

      We do not consider the materials Wilson-Garcia references in her opening

brief that are not part of the administrative record. See Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d 955,

963-64 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc).

      We deny Wilson-Garcia’s request for judicial notice.

      The government must bear the costs for this petition for review.

      PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.

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