USCA11 Case: 19-15077 Document: 43-1 Date Filed: 12/23/2022 Page: 1 of 28 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-15077 ____________________ KARASTAN L. EDWARDS, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A095-146-708 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 19-15077 Document: 43-1 Date Filed: 12/23/2022 Page: 2 of 28 2 Opinion of the Court 19-15077 Before JORDAN, NEWSOM, and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges. ED CARNES, Circuit Judge: Karastan Edwards petitions for review of the Board of Im- migration Appeals’ dismissal of his appeal from an immigration judge’s removal order. That order was based on the IJ’s determi- nation that Edwards is removable, ineligible for cancellation of re- moval, and ineligible for asylum because he has been convicted of an “aggravated felony” as the Immigration and Naturalization Act defines the term. The IJ also determined that Edwards is ineligible for withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture relief. Edwards challenges all those determinations. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND This case traveled a long and winding path before it ended up here. That path has included multiple appeals from the IJ to the BIA, multiple appeals from the BIA to this Court, multiple remands from this Court to the BIA, and multiple remands from the BIA back to the IJ. We will summarize that procedural history and some of the factual background. A. Initial Immigration Judge Removal Order Edwards is a native and citizen of Jamaica who was admitted to the United States in 2002 and who became a lawful permanent resident in 2003. In February 2012 he pleaded guilty to and was convicted of the Georgia crime of family violence battery in viola- tion of O.C.G.A. § 16-5-23.1. For that crime Edwards was USCA11 Case: 19-15077 Document: 43-1 Date Filed: 12/23/2022 Page: 3 of 28 19-15077 Opinion of the Court 3 sentenced to 12 months confinement, but he was allowed to serve all of it on probation. In March 2015 the Department of Homeland Security initi- ated removal proceedings against Edwards on the theory that his Georgia family violence battery conviction was an “aggravated fel- ony” under the INA, making him removable. Edwards challenged that classification of his crime. He also filed applications for asy- lum, for withholding of removal, and for CAT relief. In those ap- plications, he claimed membership in two social groups: “relatives of opponents of the pervasive gang and corrupt situation” in Ja- maica, and “returning Jamaicans who have spent lengthy periods of time in industrialized developed affluent countries.” At a removal hearing, Edwards testified about those two as- serted social groups. He testified that his mother, who lives in Ja- maica, is part of a community organization that tries to positively influence children and that she was targeted and threatened by gangs because of it. Another reason she was targeted, according to Edwards, was because gang members believed that they could use her to get money from him. Edwards …
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