Case: 18-60276 Document: 00515980329 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/16/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED August 16, 2021 No. 18-60276 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Irma Emperatriz Berrios-Bruno; Julio Cesar Rodriguez- Berrios; David Elias Rodriguez-Berrios, Petitioners, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petitioner for Review from an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A202 004 616 BIA No. A202 004 617 BIA No. A202 004 618 Before Smith, Graves, and Ho, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Irma Emperatriz Berrios-Bruno seeks review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her asylum petition on behalf of herself and her two minor * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 18-60276 Document: 00515980329 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/16/2021 No. 18-60276 children. Finding no error in the agency’s decisions, we deny the petition for review. I. Berrios is an El Salvadorean citizen. Around 2003, when she was fifteen years old, she began a relationship with David Elias Rodriguez Cortes. After Berrios gave birth to the first of their two sons, the family moved into a home on land belonging to Berrios’ family. Berrios and Rodriguez never officially married, but Berrios described their relationship as a common-law marriage or domestic partnership, and she testified that Rodriguez had long been physically and emotionally abusive. In 2014, a man named Alfredo, who purported to be a representative of the MS-13 gang, approached Rodriguez and demanded money. To stave off threatened violence, Rodriguez began making semi-regular payments to Alfredo until, later that year, he was kidnapped for failure to meet the gang’s payment demands. Berrios then learned of Rodriguez’ payments for the first time when Alfredo told Berrios that MS-13 had kidnapped Rodriguez. Berrios recognized from Alfredo’s tattoos that he was an MS-13 member. Alfredo later wrote Berrios a letter threatening her and her children unless she paid him. Berrios then fled with her children to the United States, where she surrendered to border officials. While in detention, she learned that Rodriguez had escaped his captivity and fled to his brother’s home in Playa El Espino, about fifty miles from Berrios’ hometown. At some point in 2015, Rodriguez also fled El Salvador to the United States. After the Department of Homeland Security concluded that Berrios was removable, Berrios and her two children applied for asylum, withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Berrios’ application listed her two children as derivatives. Berrios asserted two 2 Case: 18-60276 Document: 00515980329 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/16/2021 No. 18-60276 grounds for asylum. First, she sought asylum based on the domestic abuse Rodriguez inflicted upon Berrios. She thus asserted a fear of persecution in El Salvador due to her membership in the particular social …
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