Case: 20-60123 Document: 00515970671 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/09/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED August 9, 2021 No. 20-60123 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Sindy Victoria Santos-Palacios; Melvin Yosue Maldonado-Santos, Petitioners, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals No. A 213 130 222 No. A 213 130 223 Before Smith, Stewart, and Willett, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Sindy Santos-Palacios and her minor son, natives and citizens of Hon- duras, petition for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing her appeal from the denial of her application for * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opin- ion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 20-60123 Document: 00515970671 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/09/2021 No. 20-60123 (1) asylum; (2) withholding of removal; and (3) relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition. I. Santos-Palacios and her minor son entered the United States without being admitted or paroled. She conceded that she was removable but filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT, listing her minor son as a beneficiary. She testified that she left Hon- duras to escape verbal and physical abuse at the hands of her former partner, Melvin Maldonado-Flores. She testified about escalating psychological, ver- bal, and physical abuse, including a 2016 choking incident. The abuse cul- minated in an assault in July 2017, when Maldonado-Flores dragged her from her brother’s home, then smashed her head against the wall and beat her with his fists until she fell unconscious. Santos-Palacios claimed that she called the police to report the abuse three or four times throughout her time living with Maldonado-Flores, but that they would either not respond or that Maldonado-Flores would leave before they arrived. She filed a police report after the July 2017 incident but fled Honduras within days of filing the report. The immigration judge (“I.J.”) denied Santos-Palacios’s claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the CAT. The BIA upheld that decision, finding that the first two claims failed because her proposed social group subject to persecution was not cognizable and that her CAT claim was unsuccessful because she had not demonstrated that she would be tortured. II. We review the BIA’s decision and consider the I.J.’s decision only to the extent it influenced the BIA. Singh v. Sessions, 880 F.3d 220, 224 (5th 2 Case: 20-60123 Document: 00515970671 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/09/2021 No. 20-60123 Cir. 2018). “We review factual findings for substantial evidence and may not reverse the BIA’s factual findings unless the evidence compels it.” Gonzales- Veliz v. Barr, 938 F.3d 219, 224 (5th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks). We review the BIA’s legal determinations de novo. Lopez-Gomez v. Ashcroft, 263 F.3d 442, 444 (5th Cir. 2001) (per …
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