Court Opinion

ID: 9394277
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-12 21:00:26.253369+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:58.576411
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023    Pg: 1 of 15

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 21-2273

        LUCINDA AURORA LARIOS-VARGAS, K.A.V.L,

                            Petitioners,

                     v.

        MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,

                            Respondent.

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

        Argued: January 24, 2023                                          Decided: May 11, 2023

        Before NIEMEYER and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit
        Judge.

        Petitions denied by unpublished opinion. Senior Judge Floyd wrote the opinion in which
        Judge Niemeyer and Judge Quattlebaum joined.

        ARGUED: Alaina Marie Taylor, MURRAY OSORIO PLLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for
        Petitioners. Anthony Jason Nardi, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
        Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Benjamin J. Osorio, MURRAY
        OSORIO PLLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for Petitioners. Brian Boynton, Principal Deputy
        Assistant Attorney General, Leslie McKay, Senior Litigation Counsel, Rachel L.
        Browning, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES
        DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 2 of 15

        FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge:

               Petitioners Lucinda Larios-Vargas (Larios) and her daughter, K.A.V.L.

        (collectively, “Petitioners”), are citizens of Honduras. Petitioners petition this Court for

        review of a final order of removal by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming

        an immigration judge’s (IJ) order denying their applications for asylum, withholding of

        removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and ordering their

        removal from the United States to Honduras. For the reasons that follow, we deny their

        petitions for review.

                                                     I.

               Petitioners are natives and citizens of Honduras who arrived in the United States at

        or near Hidalgo, Texas, on or about November 8, 2016, without being admitted or paroled

        by an immigration officer. On November 9, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security

        (“DHS”) served Petitioners with Notices to Appear, charging them with removability

        pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), as aliens present in the United States without

        having been admitted or paroled, or who had arrived in the United States at any time or

        place other than as designated by the Attorney General. Petitioners appeared before the IJ

        on September 25, 2017, where, through counsel, they conceded the charge of removability.

               As relief from removal, Petitioners sought asylum, withholding of removal, and

        protection under the CAT. Larios testified that she came to the United States because she

        was a single mother and was twice threatened by a member of the MS-13 gang. Gang

        members regularly came to her family’s house for meals and parties, in which Larios

                                                     2
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38           Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 3 of 15

        refused to participate. In August 2016, while Larios was at her family’s home, a gang

        member “ran into [her],” “tried to hit [her],” and threatened to kill her. A.R. 137–38.

        Larios locked herself in her house and called the police twice, but they did not answer. She

        then ran to a neighbor’s house, and the neighbor called the police for her. Again, the police

        did not answer. When she called the police a fourth time, they told her that “they were not

        police from [her] area.” A.R. 138.

               A week later, the same gang member confronted Larios again and “said that [she]

        was going to pay for” calling the police because he thought “[she] was indifferent towards

        them” and “thought too highly of [her]self,” and because she was a single mother. A.R.

        138–40, 149. On cross-examination, Larios described how MS-13 members threaten

        anyone who opposes the gang or calls the police on them, regardless of their gender. Larios

        was not sure how the gang member discovered that she had called the police, but it was

        possible that her family informed him. Larios did not attempt to call the police again

        because she did not believe that they would protect her.

               Larios claimed eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal based on her “anti-

        gang” political opinion, her nationality, and her membership in six proposed social

        groups—“single mothers,” “single mothers in Honduras,” “members of the Larios family,”

        “members of the Larios family who oppose the gangs,” “women who oppose gangs in

        Honduras,” and “women who filed police reports against gangs in Honduras.” A.R. 131–

        32. K.A.V.L. claimed eligibility for asylum based on membership in the proposed social

        groups of individuals with “[n]uclear family ties to Lucinda Larios-Vargas,” “children of

                                                      3
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 4 of 15

        single mothers,” and members of “the Larios family.” A.R. 133. 1

               On October 3, 2016, the IJ found Petitioners removable as charged and denied their

        applications. Regarding their applications for asylum and withholding of removal, it

        explained that substantial evidence did not support the conclusion that they experienced

        past persecution, and that even if they had, the proposed social groups of which they

        claimed to be members were not cognizable, save for the family-based groups. However,

        it further found that Petitioners did not demonstrate a nexus between these family-based

        groups and their past or potential future persecution. Additionally, the IJ recognized that

        “[t]he documentary evidence in the record shows that the Government of Honduras has

        difficulty in prosecuting or controlling the gangs.” A.R. 81. Nonetheless, it ultimately

        concluded that “[a]lthough [Larios] attempted to inform the police in Honduras that the

        MS-13 member had threatened her, she has not shown that the government would be unable

        or unwilling to control this specific single actor.” A.R. 82. It continued:

               [I]n this incidence the Court recognizes that this person is a member of a
               gang and could potentially have resources for which he would be able to
               locate her or follow her in the future should she return to Honduras.
               However, on a whole, the Court finds that based on [Larios’s] inability . . .
               to ultimately contact the authorities and seek their assistance with this one
               individual . . . she has not met her burden to show the government is unable
               or unwilling to control this particular person.

        A.R. 82. Because it denied Petitioners’ asylum applications, the IJ also denied Petitioners’

        applications for withholding of removal, explaining that this form of relief is subject to a

        lower burden of proof than asylum.

        1
         K.A.V.L. applied for relief as both a derivative applicant on her mother’s application as
        well as a principal applicant on her own asylum application. A.R. 3.

                                                     4
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 5 of 15

               Finally, the IJ denied Petitioners’ applications for CAT protection because they did

        not show that the government would consent to or acquiesce in their torture. It reasoned

        that “[Petitioners’] claim that they would face torture in Honduras is too speculative to

        merit protection,” and that they “have not established past mistreatment that would

        constitute torture. Nor have they established that any possible future mistreatment would

        be with the consent or acquiescence of a government official, including a willful

        blindness.” A.R. 84.

               Petitioners appealed the IJ’s order to the BIA, which affirmed. Larios argued that

        contacting the police regarding MS-13’s threats would have been futile, thereby excusing

        her failure to report the threats. The BIA disagreed, explaining that the IJ had not clearly

        erred by “finding that [Larios] had not established that the government of Honduras was

        unwilling or unable to control the man who threatened her.” A.R. 4. It continued that

        Larios testified that the gang member who threatened her may have learned of her attempts

        to contact the police “from someone other than the police.” A.R. 4. Consequently, it

        “[could not] say that reporting the threats would have been futile.” A.R. 4. Further, it

        found no clear error in the IJ’s conclusion that the Honduran government, despite having

        “severe issues controlling crime and gangs,” was unwilling or unable to control the

        individual who threatened Larios. A.R. 4.

               Finally, the BIA affirmed the IJ’s denial of CAT protection, holding that the IJ “did

        not clearly err in finding that [Petitioners] had not shown that it was more likely than not

        that they would be tortured by or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official.”

        A.R. 5. The BIA explained that the general country conditions evidence that Petitioners

                                                     5
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273       Doc: 38          Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 6 of 15

        submitted did not demonstrate that Petitioners themselves would suffer torture.

               Petitioners then timely petitioned this Court for review of the BIA and IJ’s final

        order of removal.

                                                      II.

               When the BIA has adopted and supplemented an immigration judge’s decision, we

        review both decisions. Hernandez-Cartagena v. Barr, 977 F.3d 316, 319 (4th Cir. 2020)

        (citation omitted). We review factual findings for substantial evidence, treating them as

        conclusive “unless a reasonable adjudicator would have been compelled to reach a contrary

        conclusion.” Cruz v. Sessions, 853 F.3d 122, 128 (4th Cir. 2017) (citation omitted). Legal

        determinations are reviewed de novo. Hernandez-Avalos v. Lynch, 784 F.3d 944, 948 (4th

        Cir. 2015) (citation omitted).

               We also review the BIA’s decision for abuse of discretion, which occurs when the

        BIA “fails to offer a reasoned explanation for its decision, or if it distorts or disregards

        important aspects of the applicant’s claim.” Portillo Flores v. Garland, 3 F.4th 615, 626

        (4th Cir. 2021) (quotation omitted). “An applicant for asylum is entitled to know that

        agency adjudicators reviewed all [her] evidence, understood it, and had a cogent,

        articulable basis for its determination that [her] evidence was insufficient.” Id. (simplified).

        “As a general matter, when the Board errs, ‘the proper course . . . is to remand to the agency

        for additional investigation or explanation.’” Alvarez Lagos v. Barr, 927 F.3d 236, 249

        (4th Cir. 2019) (quoting INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16 (2002) (per curiam)).

               Finally, single-member decisions of the BIA—such as the one subject to review

                                                       6
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273       Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 7 of 15

        here—are not entitled to Chevron deference. Martinez v. Holder, 740 F.3d 902, 909–10

        (4th Cir.), as revised (Jan. 27, 2014).

                                                         III.

               First, Petitioners challenge the agency’s denial of their claims for asylum. If an

        applicant for asylum fears persecution by a non-governmental actor, she must establish:

               (1) that she has suffered past persecution or has a well-founded fear of future
               persecution; (2) that the persecution is “on account of” her race, religion,
               nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; and
               (3) that the persecution is perpetrated by an organization that her home
               country’s government is unable or unwilling to control.

        Portillo Flores, 3 F.4th at 626 (simplified); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). As

        relevant here, “[a]n applicant who relinquishes a protective process without good reason

        will generally be unable to prove her government’s unwillingness or inability to protect

        her.” Orellana v. Barr, 925 F.3d 145, 153 (4th Cir. 2019) (citation omitted). Importantly,

        however, this Court has rejected a per se reporting requirement, explaining that an applicant

        can be excused from seeking government intervention if doing so “(1) would have been

        futile or (2) [would] have subjected her to further abuse.” Id. (simplified).

               Here, Petitioners do not challenge the agency’s determination that they did not

        satisfy the first two factors to qualify for a grant of asylum or withholding of removal—(1)

        past persecution or a well-founded fear thereof (2) on account of a protected ground. The

        government does not address these factors, either. Instead, the parties only focus on the

        third factor—whether the BIA and IJ erred in finding that the Honduran government was

        not able or willing to control the MS-13 gang member who threatened Larios.

                                                     7
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 8 of 15

               Because the parties center their arguments on the third factor in the test for asylum—

        that Petitioners face persecution by “an organization that [their] home country’s

        government is unable or unwilling to control”—we begin there. Portillo Flores, 3 F.4th at

        626 (quotation omitted).     Petitioners contend that the agency overlooked Larios’s

        testimony regarding her multiple, unsuccessful attempts to contact the police, that the BIA

        failed to consider whether making a police report would subject her to further harm, and

        that the IJ improperly applied a per se reporting requirement. The government responds

        that substantial evidence does not compel a reversal of the agency’s decision.

               As discussed above, after her first encounter with the MS-13 gang member who

        threatened her, Larios called the police four times in quick succession then did not seek

        any further government assistance. One week after her first encounter with the gang

        member and her attempts to contact the police, the gang member returned to her home “and

        said that [she] was going to pay” for calling the police. A.R. 138. When asked whether

        she ever had problems with the Honduran police before these incidents, Larios responded

        in the negative. A.R. 145. Further, she “[did not] know how [the gang member] found out

        [that she] had called the police.” A.R. 139. She testified that MS-13 members “share a lot

        of information” with each other, and she speculated that “[p]erhaps” someone in her family

        informed the gang of her phone calls. A.R. 141, 150. In addition to this testimony, Larios

        submitted a country conditions report, which describes how “[c]orruption and impunity

        remain[] serious problems within [Honduran] security forces,” but that the government has

        taken steps to ameliorate this issue. A.R. 215. The report also notes that the Honduran

        government struggles to control gangs. See A.R. 255.

                                                     8
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38          Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 9 of 15

               In light of this evidence, the IJ found that “based on [Larios’s] inability . . . to

        ultimately contact the authorities and seek their assistance with this one individual, [] she

        has not met her burden to show [that] the government is unable or unwilling to control this

        particular person.” A.R. 82. For its part, the BIA acknowledged that Larios’s “failure to

        report the harm [that] she suffered to the police forecloses relief absent a showing that

        reporting the incident would have been futile or subjected her to greater harm.” A.R. 4.

        However, it then reasoned that it could not “say that reporting the threats would have been

        futile in light of [Larios’s] testimony regarding the possibility that the gang member learned

        of her phone calls to the police from someone other than the police.” A.R. 4.

               Here, the agency reasonably concluded that the evidence was insufficient to show

        that the police were unable or unwilling to protect Larios and her daughter. First, the

        agency did not abuse its discretion. Contrary to Petitioners’ assertions, the BIA and IJ

        explicitly recognized Larios’s repeated calls to the police and the police’s lack of response.

        Further, although a closer question, the IJ’s statements concerning Larios’s inability to

        contact the authorities do not amount to the application of a per se reporting requirement.

        Rather, these statements merely serve to emphasize the thin record regarding Larios’s

        concerns about contacting the police, which included only her testimony and a country

        conditions report. The IJ simply appears to have concluded that Larios abandoned the

        Honduran legal system too quickly and without good reason. Additionally, the BIA did

        not commit legal error by not explicitly considering whether reporting the gang member to

        the authorities would have resulted in further harm to Petitioners. In their appeal to the

        BIA, Petitioners made the bare assertion that “[r]eporting MS-13 to police . . . would have

                                                      9
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 10 of 15

        led to reprisals” and otherwise concentrated on their arguments on futility. A.R. 18. We

        will not fault the BIA for discussing this issue in a cursory manner when Petitioners left

        this argument unsubstantiated, despite bearing the burden of proof on this issue.

               Second, substantial evidence does not compel a conclusion opposite to the one that

        the agency reached. Larios appears to have abandoned the Honduran legal process

        “without good reason.”       Orellana, 925 F.3d 153 (citation omitted).         Despite not

        experiencing any prior problems with the Honduran police, she swiftly gave up on seeking

        their assistance. We recognize that the gang’s threats to Larios and the police’s lack of

        response to her phone calls must have been frightening and frustrating. Nevertheless, this

        Court typically requires far more from petitioners seeking to show that reporting threats

        and violence to the authorities would have been pointless or dangerous. See, e.g., Portillo

        Flores, 3 F.4th at 635–36 (concluding that the agency abused its discretion when it denied

        asylum to an El Salvadoran teenager when he offered extensive evidence that the police

        and a gang were colluding); Perez-Morales v. Barr, 781 F. App’x 192, 199 (4th Cir. 2019)

        (holding that the BIA abused its discretion by overlooking evidence that petitioner did not

        report gang threats to the police “because he believed they had been bought off by the

        gang” and “a friend was killed after reporting gang members to police”).

               Further, Larios challenges the BIA’s reasoning that it “[could not] say that reporting

        the threats would have been futile” given her “testimony regarding the possibility that the

        gang member learned of her phone calls to the police from someone other than the police.”

        A.R. 4.   She deems this assertion irrelevant to the futility analysis, as there is no

        requirement that a persecutor learn of a police report directly from the authorities

                                                     10
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273       Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 11 of 15

        themselves. Indeed, we have never imposed such a requirement and have, in fact,

        recognized that gangs gather information about their victims from various sources within

        the community. See Portillo Flores, 3 F.4th at 635 (recognizing petitioner’s evidence that

        gangs use “sources within the police, government and community” to collect information

        about those who make police reports). But Larios’s argument overlooks the crux of the

        futility analysis—whether the police would meaningfully respond to a report of

        persecution.   See Orellana, 925 F.3d at 153 (considering whether the Salvadoran

        government would provide petitioner with “meaningful protection”). If Larios’s family

        tipped off the gang member about her calls to the police, that may demonstrate that Larios’s

        family members betrayed her confidence—not that the police would fail to assist Larios if

        she made a report. Ultimately, even if this Court would have come to a different conclusion

        had it reviewed the evidence in the first instance, it cannot reverse the agency’s conclusion

        unless substantial evidence compels it, which is not the case here. Thus, we deny the

        petitions for review of the BIA and IJ’s denial of Petitioners’ applications for asylum and

        withholding of removal. 2, 3

        2
          Moreover, even assuming the agency erred in finding that the Honduran government was
        unwilling or unable to control the gang member who threatened Larios, Petitioners never
        challenged the agency’s finding that they did not establish that they faced past persecution
        or had a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground. Thus,
        they waived these issues and remain ineligible for asylum. Grayson O Co. v. Agadir Int’l
        LLC, 856 F.3d 307, 316 (4th Cir. 2017) (“A party waives an argument by failing to present
        it in its opening brief or by failing to ‘develop [its] argument’—even if [its] brief takes a
        passing shot at the issue.” (quotation omitted)).
        3
          The IJ and BIA rejected Petitioner’s withholding of removal claim, reasoning that their
        failure to establish a claim for asylum necessarily means that they would be unable to meet
        the higher evidentiary standard for withholding. “Withholding of removal is available
        under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) if the alien shows that it is more likely than not that her life or

                                                      11
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273      Doc: 38          Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 12 of 15

                                                     IV.

               Finally, Petitioners contend that they are entitled to CAT relief. They assert that the

        agency did not adequately analyze the CAT claim factors and did not sufficiently consider

        the evidence contrary to its ultimate decision. They further contend that the evidence

        compels the grant of CAT relief. The government counters that the agency properly

        considered Petitioners’ CAT claims and that the evidence did not compel a contrary

        decision.

               Under Article 3 of the CAT—to which the United States is a party—parties agree

        not to deport “a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing

        that [she] would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” U.N. Convention Against

        Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 3, Dec. 10,

        1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85, 114.         An applicant for CAT relief bears the burden of

        “establish[ing] that it is more likely than not that he or she would be tortured if removed to

        the proposed country of removal.” 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(2). “For purposes of the CAT,

        torture includes only conduct by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence

        freedom would be threatened in the country of removal because of her ‘race, religion,
        nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.’” Gomis v.
        Holder, 571 F.3d 353, 359 (4th Cir. 2009) (quotations omitted). In other words,
        withholding claims carry a higher burden of proof than asylum claim but require the same
        facts to be proven. Zelaya v. Holder, 668 F.3d 159, 161 (4th Cir. 2012). For that reason,
        “an [applicant] who cannot meet [her] burden of proof on an asylum claim under the INA
        necessarily cannot meet [her] burden of proof on a withholding of removal claim under the
        INA.” Id. (citation omitted). Because Petitioners did not satisfy the lower standard for
        asylum, they necessarily do not satisfy the higher standard for withholding of removal, and
        neither the IJ nor BIA erred in so finding.

                                                     12
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273       Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 13 of 15

        of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” Mulyani v. Holder, 771

        F.3d 190, 200 (4th Cir. 2014) (simplified). In assessing a CAT claim, the agency must

        consider all relevant evidence including, but not limited to:

               (i)     Evidence of past torture inflicted upon the applicant;

               (ii)    Evidence that the applicant could relocate to a part of the country of
                       removal where he or she is not likely to be tortured;

               (iii)   Evidence of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights within
                       the country of removal, where applicable; and

               (iv)    Other relevant information regarding conditions in the country of
                       removal.

        8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(3)(i)–(iv).

               Here, the BIA and IJ did not abuse their discretion. “We presume that, in reaching

        their conclusions, the IJ and the BIA reviewed the evidence presented to them and made

        their decisions based on the relevant evidence.” Nolasco v. Garland, 7 F.4th 180, 190 (4th

        Cir. 2021) (simplified). The BIA and IJ “are not required to discuss every piece of evidence

        in the record, but they must announce their decisions in terms sufficient to enable a

        reviewing court to perceive that they have heard and thought and not merely reacted.” Id.

        (quotation omitted). In light of these standards, the agency properly considered Petitioners’

        evidence. The IJ outlined the documents that Petitioners submitted in support of their

        applications and specifically noted that it “considered all the evidence in its entirety

        regardless of whether specifically mentioned in the text of this decision.” A.R. 74. It also

        explicitly acknowledged this evidence—albeit in the context of the asylum claims—noting

        that “[t]he documentary evidence in the record shows that the Government of Honduras

        has difficulty in prosecuting or controlling the gangs. . . . Furthermore, there are sufficient

                                                      13
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273       Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023      Pg: 14 of 15

        incidents of government impunity and corruption within Honduras.” A.R. 81. The BIA

        also recognized Petitioners’ country conditions evidence and explained that this evidence

        did not “overcome” the speculative nature of Petitioners’ fear of torture. A.R. 5. In short,

        the IJ and BIA’s decisions regarding the CAT claims could have been more thorough, but

        neither abused their discretion.

               Additionally, the evidence does not compel a conclusion contrary to the one that the

        agency reached. As discussed above, the record here is thin: Larios faced two unfulfilled

        threats from a gang member and quickly gave up on seeking police assistance. The agency

        reasonably concluded that these facts did not amount to past torture or support a fear of

        future torture, and even if they did qualify as torture, Petitioners’ claim that the government

        would acquiesce or consent to their mistreatment was too speculative to warrant relief. See

        Hernandez-Cabrera v. Barr, 837 F. App’x 148, 155 (4th Cir. 2020) (holding that CAT

        relief was unavailable when “the evidence left the IJ to speculate as to whether efforts to

        seek help from law enforcement in the future would be ignored or otherwise ineffective”).

        Moreover, the evidence does not establish that Petitioners themselves faced or would face

        a particularized risk of torture. See Singh v. Holder, 699 F.3d 321, 335 n.16 (4th Cir. 2012);

        see also Nolasco, 7 F.4th at 191 (“[T]he mere existence of a pattern of human rights

        violations in a particular country does not constitute a sufficient ground for finding that a

        particular person would more likely than not be tortured.”) For these reasons, we deny the

        petition as to the CAT determination, as well.

                                                      14
USCA4 Appeal: 21-2273     Doc: 38         Filed: 05/11/2023     Pg: 15 of 15

                                                        V.

              For the foregoing reasons, Petitioners’ petitions for review are denied.

                                                              PETITIONS FOR REVIEW DENIED

                                                   15