NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Argued December 12, 2017 Decided February 14, 2008 Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge KENNETH F. RIPPLE, Circuit Judge DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge No. 17-1360 MARIO JIMENEZ-BECERRIL, Petition for Review of an Order of the Petitioner, Board of Immigration Appeals. v. No. A206-550-492 JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ORDER Mario Jimenez-Becerril, a 46-year-old Mexican citizen, petitions for review of the denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We dismiss in part and deny in part the petition for review. I. BACKGROUND Jimenez-Becerril entered the United States without authorization in 2003. In 2016 he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property worth more than $500, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 514.110(3)(a), and he was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment. The Department of Homeland Security then began removal proceedings, charging Jimenez-Becerril as No. 17-1360 Page 2 removable on two grounds: (1) as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i); and (2) as an alien convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, see id. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). Jimenez-Becerril, appearing pro se, conceded that he was removable on both grounds but applied—based on his fear of harm from Mexican drug cartels—for asylum, withholding of removal under the INA, and withholding of removal under the CAT. At an evidentiary hearing before an Immigration Judge, Jimenez-Becerril elaborated on his circumstances. He testified that he had served in the Mexican army from 1994 until 1997, when he deserted and returned to his hometown of Potrero Redondo in the State of Mexico. He traced his fear of the cartels to an incident that occurred near his hometown in February 2003. He was walking down a highway when he was accosted by a group of five masked men, who forced him into a truck. The men, who he believed to be members of a cartel called “La Familia Michoacana,” said that they knew he had been in the army and wanted him to train cartel members to use assault weapons. They offered to pay him well, but he refused to work for them, stating that the values he had learned during his military service prevented him from killing innocent people. They then beat him, shot him in the side of his abdomen, left him by the side of the road, and threatened to kill him if he refused them again. The bullet did no serious damage, so he managed to walk back to town (a trip that took nearly twelve hours), where he obtained medical treatment. He fled to the United States a few days later. Jimenez-Becerril has not returned to Mexico since he left in 2003, but he said he fears that Mexican cartels still would target him ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals