Carmen Elena Corvero-Alfaro v. U.S. Attorney General


Case: 17-10533 Date Filed: 12/06/2017 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-10533 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A208-574-374 CARMEN ELENA CORVERO-ALFARO, JUAN DIEGO CORVERO-ALFARO, Petitioners, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (December 6, 2017) Before WILLIAM PRYOR, MARTIN, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Carmen Corvero-Alfaro, a citizen of Guatemala, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision affirming the immigration judge’s Case: 17-10533 Date Filed: 12/06/2017 Page: 2 of 7 (“IJ”) denial of her application for withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). Corvero-Alfaro argues that the BIA erred by finding she was not a member of a protected group and likely would not face persecution if she returned to Guatemala. After careful review, we are bound to deny her petition. I. Corvero-Alfaro was born in Guatemala. In 2003, while she was working in a clothing factory there, two of her coworkers tried to recruit her to join their gang, MS-18. The coworkers, one of whom was Corvero-Alfaro’s relative, threatened her a number of times, saying there would be consequences if she refused to join. In June 2003, Corvero-Alfaro’s two coworkers attacked her, throwing her to the ground, kicking and hitting her. They told her that this was a consequence of not joining the gang, and that things would get worse if she continued refusing to join. Corvero-Alfaro saw a doctor at the factory who gave her medication. She had bruises and scratches on her head, face, neck, and arms. Corvero-Alfaro says the threats continued after this attack. In 2004, Corvero-Alfaro left Guatemala and moved to the United States. She says she left because she was afraid of the gang. In 2012, Corvero-Alfaro moved from the United States to Mexico. She met her son there, who also fled MS-18, and lived with her husband’s parents for three years, eventually becoming 2 Case: 17-10533 Date Filed: 12/06/2017 Page: 3 of 7 a permanent resident. But Corvero-Alfaro also did not feel safe in Mexico. She and her husband’s family were victims of crimes, and she feared being targeted because her husband was living in the United States. In October 2015, Corvero- Alfaro and her son entered the United States. 1 Soon after they arrived, they were detained by the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). DHS served Corvero-Alfaro with a Notice to Appear, charging her with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Corvero-Alfaro applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the regulations implementing the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The IJ denied Corvero-Alfaro’s application for relief. The IJ found that Corvero-Alfaro was ineligible for asylum from Guatemala because she had resettled in Mexico. The IJ denied Corvero-Alfaro’s withholding of removal claim, finding she had not shown past persecution or a clear probability of future persecution based on a protected ground. The IJ also denied Corvero-Alfaro’s claim for CAT relief, ...

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