Concepcion Ramos Nunes v. Jefferson Sessions III


UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 17-2140 CONCEPCION DEL CARMEN RAMOS NUNES, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: September 25, 2018 Decided: October 18, 2018 Before MOTZ, DUNCAN, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Petition for review denied. Judge Duncan wrote the opinion, in which Judge Motz and Judge Thacker concurred. ARGUED: James Anthony Rivera, THE LAW OFFICE OF JAMES RIVERA, PLLC, Herndon, Virginia, for Petitioner. David Schor, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Holly M. Smith, 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 Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. DUNCAN, Circuit Judge: Petitioner Carmen Ramos Nunes (“Ramos Nunes”) challenges the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”) to reverse the immigration judge’s (the “IJ”) grant of Ramos Nunes’s request for protection under the Convention Against Torture (the “CAT”) and to order her removed to El Salvador. Because substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion that the IJ clearly erred in finding that Ramos Nunes was more likely than not to be tortured upon her return to El Salvador, we deny her petition for review. * I. Ramos Nunes is a native and citizen of El Salvador. In 2004, at the age of thirteen, she entered the United States without inspection by an immigration officer. Since then, Ramos Nunes has resided in northern Virginia. She has no remaining family in El Salvador. In 2015, Ramos Nunes was convicted of several misdemeanors, after which the Department of Homeland Security (the “DHS”) initiated removal proceedings against her. On November 8, 2016, at a hearing before an IJ, Ramos Nunes conceded that she was removable as charged. Ramos Nunes then filed an application for asylum, * Because substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion with respect to whether Ramos was more likely than not to be tortured by gang members if removed to El Salvador, we do not reach the question of whether the Salvadoran government consents to or acquiesces in gang violence. 2 withholding of removal, and CAT protection with the IJ. In support of her application for relief under the CAT, Ramos Nunes argued that as a young, single mother with no familial ties to El Salvador, she is vulnerable and likely to be targeted by gang members if removed. She contended that these gang members would likely subject her to sexual violence with the acquiescence of the Salvadoran government. Further, Ramos Nunes argued that her status as a U.S. deportee makes it more likely that she would be targeted by gang members for extortion because deportees are perceived to have access to remittances from the United States. The IJ held a hearing on March 29, 2017, at which Ramos Nunes’s witness Dr. Joseph L. Wiltberger, Ph.D., an expert in country conditions in El Salvador, testified. Notably, Dr. ...

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