Court Opinion

ID: 9957082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-03 17:01:01.050837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:06.090229
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                          FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        APR 3 2024
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ROSALIA LOZANO MACIEL; V. L. N.,                No. 23-484
                                                Agency Nos.
             Petitioners,                       A215-906-042
                                                A215-906-043
 v.

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney                    MEMORANDUM*
General,

             Respondent.

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

                             Submitted April 1, 2024**
                             San Francisco, California

Before: HURWITZ and JOHNSTONE, Circuit Judges, and MORRIS, District
Judge.***

      Rosalia Lozano Maciel and her minor daughter, V.L.N., (collectively,

“Petitioners”), natives and citizens of Mexico, petition for review of a Board of

      *
             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).
      ***
             The Honorable Brian M. Morris, Chief Judge for the District of
Montana, sitting by designation.
Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision dismissing their appeal of the denial by an

Immigration Judge (“IJ”) of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the

Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition.

      Our review is limited to the grounds upon which the BIA relied. Santiago-

Rodriguez v. Holder, 657 F.3d 820, 829 (9th Cir. 2011). Where, as here, the BIA

adopts and affirms portions of the IJ’s decision, “we treat the incorporated parts of

the IJ’s decision as the BIA’s.” Id. (quoting Blanco v. Mukasey, 518 F.3d 714, 718

(9th Cir. 2008)). We review the agency’s legal conclusions de novo and factual

findings for substantial evidence. Garcia v. Wilkinson, 988 F.3d 1136, 1142 (9th

Cir. 2021).

      1. The BIA did not err in finding that Petitioners waived any claim that

V.L.N.’s application stated an independent claim for asylum, withholding, or CAT

relief. Petitioners’ attorney informed the IJ that V.L.N.’s claim was “based

completely and wholly on” Lozano Maciel’s application. A party is bound by the

statements of their attorney. See Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 634

(1962); see also Garcia v. I.N.S., 222 F.3d 1208, 1209 (9th Cir. 2000). Moreover,

Petitioners provided no evidence to the IJ about any particular risks to young

women and teenaged girls. Instead, on appeal to the BIA and this court, they rely

solely on extra-record evidence to assert such a claim. The BIA thus did not err in

finding that Petitioners waived any independent claim V.L.N. may have had by

                                        2                                      23-484
failing to raise it to the IJ. See Honcharov v. Barr, 924 F.3d 1293, 1297 (9th Cir.

2019).

      2. Before this court, Petitioners do not raise any argument that the BIA

erred in finding that they forfeited any objections to the IJ’s relocation findings.1

They have thus forfeited review of those findings. See Martinez-Serrano v. I.N.S.,

94 F.3d 1256, 1259–60 (9th Cir. 1996) (citing Fed. R. App. Proc. 28(a)(6)). In any

event, the BIA did not err in finding that Petitioners forfeited any objections to the

IJ’s relocation findings. See Honcharov, 924 F.3d at 1297. Because Petitioners do

not argue that they faced past persecution and have provided no evidence that the

Mexican government sponsors persecution of women, relocation is presumed

reasonable, 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.13(b)(3), 1208.16(b)(3), and the agency did not err in

denying their applications for asylum and withholding of removal.

      3. Substantial evidence supports the agency’s finding that Petitioners have

failed to show that it is more likely than not they will be tortured if returned to

Mexico. The BIA did not err in determining that they forfeited any argument

regarding the risk of torture to “deportees to Mexico,” because they failed to

mention any such risk before the IJ. See Honcharov, 924 F.3d at 1297. And even

1
  Petitioners argue the BIA erred because it only adopted the IJ’s findings as to past
persecution and suggested the past persecution finding was dispositive. We do not
reach this issue because the agency’s relocation findings are an independently
sufficient basis to deny the petition. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(2)(ii); Knezevic v.
Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1206, 1214 (9th Cir. 2004).

                                          3                                     23-484
on appeal to the BIA and in their petition for review, they rely exclusively on

“generalized evidence of violence and crime in Mexico,” which “is insufficient to

meet [the CAT] standard.” Delgado-Ortiz v. Holder, 600 F.3d 1148, 1152 (9th Cir.

2010). Thus, the agency did not err in denying their applications for CAT relief.

      PETITION DENIED.

                                        4                                    23-484