Perez-Rabanales v. Sessions


United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 17-1803 ANA MARINA PEREZ-RABANALES, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Thompson, Selya, and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Kevin P. MacMurray, Daniel W. Chin, and MacMurray & Associates on brief for petitioner. Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Shelley R. Goad, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, and Carmel A. Morgan, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief for respondent. January 26, 2018 SELYA, Circuit Judge. The petitioner, Ana Marina Perez- Rabanales, a Guatemalan national, seeks judicial review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). We conclude that the petitioner has failed to show that the claimed persecution took place on account of her membership in a cognizable social group. Based largely on that conclusion, we hold that the BIA's final order is in accordance with law and is supported by substantial evidence in the record. Consequently, we deny the petition. I. BACKGROUND The petitioner resided in Guatemala until April of 2014, when she attempted to enter the United States. She claims that in 2003, a man named Rodrigo De Leon grabbed her as she was walking home from church and raped her. She did not contact the police because she believed that women have no rights in Guatemala and that the police would be unwilling to protect her. To avoid future encounters with De Leon, she altered her route to church. Notwithstanding her precautions, De Leon tracked her down and raped her a second time. The petitioner became pregnant as a result of this second rape. She told her mother about both the pregnancy and De Leon's assaults. Soon thereafter, De Leon left Guatemala. But as word - 2 - spread that the petitioner was carrying De Leon's child, she began to experience abuse from De Leon's family. Three of his relatives beat her with sticks and threatened her life. De Leon was married at the time of the rapes, and she believed that his relatives, upon learning of her pregnancy, blamed her for "wreck[ing] his home." The petitioner gave birth to her son, Juanfer Perez, in March of 2004. At an unspecified later date in 2007, she was attacked by De Leon's sister-in-law, who pulled her hair, threw her to the ground, and struck her with a rock. An x-ray taken at a local hospital revealed that blood had pooled in the petitioner's brain as a result of the attack. Although she seldom went outdoors following this incident for fear of another confrontation, De Leon's relatives continued to scream at her from outside her home. The petitioner subsequently met Raoul Mauricio, with whom she lived and had a child (Astrid Mauricio). De Leon's family continued harassing her, and the harassment persisted after Raoul Mauricio ...

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