Ixcoy Herrera v. Garland


Case: 21-60120 Document: 00516631002 Page: 1 Date Filed: 02/01/2023 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED February 1, 2023 No. 21-60120 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Juana M. Ixcoy Herrera, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals A209 983 153 Before Jones, Ho, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Petitioner seeks review of a final order of removal by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). She alleges that the BIA and Immigration Judge (IJ) improperly shifted the burden of proof onto her and that their conclusions were not supported by substantial evidence. We disagree and deny her petition for review. * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 21-60120 Document: 00516631002 Page: 2 Date Filed: 02/01/2023 No. 21-60120 I. Petitioner Juana M. Ixcoy Herrera is a native and citizen of Guatemala and member of the Quiche-Mayan ethnic/indigenous group. Members of this group have experienced prejudice and violence in that country. A native of the municipality of Ixcán, Petitioner obtained a degree and a job as a secretary, subsequently enrolling in university seeking a legal education. During her employment and studies, Petitioner met and in 2012 married a Ladino man—a non-indigenous Guatemalan of European or mixed descent. Upon her marriage, Petitioner left her studies and moved in with her husband and his parents and two sisters. Petitioner’s sisters-in-law displayed significant hostility toward Petitioner, directing their vitriol toward her on numerous fronts: her ethnicity, her inability to have children, her cooking, and their belief that their brother would be better matched with either of two other women with whom he had fathered children. In light of this conflict, Petitioner pressed her husband to find another living situation, and he responded by building them a home of their own a mere ten meters away from the family home. In 2015, Petitioner’s husband left Guatemala for the United States. In 2017, Petitioner was walking outside after work when she saw a man whom she recognized as a relative of her sister-in-law’s friend. He was staring at Petitioner and speaking on the phone. As she began driving home, a masked man riding a motorcycle cornered her vehicle and shot at her repeatedly at close range, hitting her hand and multiple places within her car before she managed to speed away. Moments later, Petitioner saw her sister- in-law standing on the side of the road. Petitioner remains convinced that the attempted murder was commissioned by her sister-in-law. Petitioner reported the incident to the police but did not tell them that she suspected her sister-in-law’s involvement, an omission she attributes to 2 Case: 21-60120 Document: 00516631002 Page: 3 Date Filed: 02/01/2023 No. 21-60120 fear. The police accompanied Petitioner to the hospital, alerted the prosecutor’s office, and conducted an investigation of the crime scene and an examination of the vehicle. With very little to inform their investigation, the police examined …

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