Ingrid Nolasco-Figueroa v. Merrick Garland


UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-1693 INGRID NOLASCO-FIGUEROA; C.R.N.; B.R.N., Petitioners, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review for an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: May 4, 2021 Decided: June 15, 2021 Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, MOTZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Denied by unpublished per curiam opinion. ARGUED: Rebekah Goncarvos Grafton, FAY & GRAFTON, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Petitioners. John Beadle Holt, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Ana Sofia Nunez, FAY & GRAFTON, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Petitioners. Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Claire L. Workman, 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 Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Ingrid Nolasco-Figueroa (“Petitioner”), a native of Honduras who fled to the United States in 2016, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the Immigration Judge (“IJ”)’s denial of Petitioner’s claims for asylum, withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Petitioner primarily argues that the IJ and BIA erred in concluding that she failed to introduce sufficient evidence to corroborate her testimony. Discerning no reversible error in the manner in which the IJ and BIA assessed Petitioner’s corroborating evidence, and finding substantial support in the record for the IJ and BIA’s denial of Petitioner’s claims for relief, we deny the petition for review. I. A. Petitioner is a 26 year old Honduran national. In 2009, while living in Colón, Honduras, Petitioner became romantically involved with a man named Paco Beltran Rivas Ramirez (“Rivas Ramirez”). Petitioner and Rivas Ramirez never married, but they had two children and lived together from 2010 until Rivas Ramirez’s death in 2014. Rivas Ramirez was shot and killed in Honduras on July 27, 2014. According to the testimony Petitioner gave during the IJ hearing related to her removal proceedings, Rivas Ramirez’s death stemmed from his participation in a soccer game against a team made up of members of the Santos family. The Santos family operates a criminal drug trafficking organization in Honduras. Petitioner did not attend the soccer game against the Santos family, but she testified that one of Rivas Ramirez’s sisters-in-law attended the game and 2 called Petitioner on the phone to apprise her of the tragic events that unfolded on the soccer field that day. On this phone call, Petitioner learned that Rivas Ramirez was involved in a dispute over whether he had scored a valid goal. A scuffle ensued, and Rivas Ramirez was shot and killed by an unspecified member of the Santos family. Petitioner testified before the IJ that a few hours after she learned of Rivas Ramirez’s killing, she went to the soccer field to discuss “what had happened” with those who had witnessed it. A.R. 135. 1 When Petitioner arrived at the field, Rivas Ramirez’s sister-in- law informed …

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