Yelson Armand Rodriguez v. U.S. Attorney General


USCA11 Case: 21-13108 Date Filed: 08/31/2022 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-13108 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ YELSON ARMAND RODRIGUEZ, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A206-801-904 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-13108 Date Filed: 08/31/2022 Page: 2 of 10 2 Opinion of the Court 21-13108 Before WILSON, JILL PRYOR, and BRANCH, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Yelson Rodriguez, a Honduran national proceeding with counsel, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) final order affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his ap- plication for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, In- human or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). He argues that the BIA erred by affirming the IJ’s determination that his pro- posed particular social group (PSG) lacked immutability and that substantial evidence does not support the determination that he failed to establish a nexus between that group and his asserted per- secution. Consequently, he contends that the BIA erred by affirm- ing the IJ’s determination that he failed to establish eligibility for asylum. Next, he asserts that substantial evidence does not support the BIA’s determination that he failed to establish eligibility for withholding of removal. Finally, he argues that the BIA erred by affirming the IJ’s denial of CAT relief. After careful review, we deny Rodriguez’s petition for review in part and dismiss his peti- tion in part. I. BACKGROUND Rodriguez is a citizen of Honduras. The Department of Homeland Security served him with a Notice to Appear, charging that he was removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) for USCA11 Case: 21-13108 Date Filed: 08/31/2022 Page: 3 of 10 21-13108 Opinion of the Court 3 entering the United States as an undocumented immigrant without being admitted or paroled. Rodriguez conceded removability as charged. Rodriguez applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief. He asserted that strangers killed his brother in the butcher shop he owned. Afterwards, he stated, he and his family received death threats, and he was told that the strangers would kill him if he did not leave. He contended that police in Honduras were corrupt and did not offer any protection to citizens, and that he feared that he could be killed like his brother. Rodriguez submitted exhibits in support of his application. An article stated that his brother had been killed at the butcher shop he owned by two unknown people and quoted an acquaintance as stating that the crime could have been perpetrated due to a feud or personal envy. In a written statement, Rodriguez asserted that he witnessed the death of his brother and had to abandon his job due to criminals sending him death threats and looking for him because he was a witness and the brother of the deceased. His aunt stated in a sworn declaration that her and Rodriguez’s family had …

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