Court Opinion

ID: 9894774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-02 21:00:58.597229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:39.279662
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-1285      Doc: 45          Filed: 11/01/2023    Pg: 1 of 3

                                             UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                               No. 22-1285

        KEYDY BETZABE VASQUEZ-CASTRO; K.K.L.V,

                             Petitioners,

                      v.

        MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,

                             Respondent.

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

        Submitted: October 20, 2023                                  Decided: November 1, 2023

        Before WYNN, RUSHING, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.

        Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Joseph A. Devamithran, LAW OFFICE OF JOSEPH A. DEVAMITHRAN,
        Woodbridge, Virginia, for Petitioners. Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant
        Attorney General, Anthony C. Payne, Assistant Director, Jeffery R. Leist, Senior Litigation
        Counsel, 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        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

               Keydy Betzabe Vasquez-Castro and her minor son, natives and citizens of

        Honduras, petition for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”)

        dismissing their appeal from the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying Vasquez-

        Castro’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the

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

               We have reviewed the administrative record, including the transcript of the merits

        hearing and all supporting evidence, and considered the arguments pressed on appeal in

        conjunction with the record and the relevant authorities. We first conclude that the record

        evidence does not compel a ruling contrary to any of the agency’s factual findings, see 8

        U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B), and that substantial evidence supports the IJ’s adverse credibility

        finding, Munyakazi v. Lynch, 829 F.3d 291, 298 (4th Cir. 2016) (stating standard of

        review).   The asylum applicant’s credibility is “often paramount,” and an adverse

        credibility finding “generally dooms an asylum claim[.]” Herrera-Alcala v. Garland, 39

        F.4th 233, 245 (4th Cir. 2022). With regard to the denial of Vasquez-Castro’s application

        for CAT relief, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the relevant factual findings

        and the agency committed no legal error. See Ibarra Chevez v. Garland, 31 F.4th 279, 288

        (4th Cir. 2022) (stating standard of review).

               ∗
                 Vasquez-Castro’s son was a derivative asylum applicant.             See 8 U.S.C.
        § 1158(b)(3)(A).

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               Accordingly, we deny the petition for review. We dispense with oral argument

        because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this

        court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                               PETITION DENIED

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