Case: 19-60074 Document: 00516079870 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/03/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED November 3, 2021 No. 19-60074 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Billy Alexander Diaz, also known as Villi Alexander Flores Diaz, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A071 773 952 Before Higginbotham, Elrod, and Haynes, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Petitioner Billy Alexander Diaz, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order upholding the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) decision to deny Diaz’s deferral of * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.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: 19-60074 Document: 00516079870 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/03/2021 No. 19-60074 removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We DENY the petition for review. I. Diaz first entered the United States as a minor with his mother and brother in 1991. In 1994, Diaz was granted voluntary departure when his family’s applications for asylum and withholding of removal were denied, but he did not depart and remained illegally in the United States. During this time, Diaz was separately convicted of the attempted sale of cocaine and the sale of cocaine. Accordingly, in 2008, Diaz was removed from the United States and returned to El Salvador. Six years after his return to El Salvador, Diaz allegedly witnessed two men in police uniforms shoot and kill three individuals in a taxi. Before retreating, the two shooters “stare[d]” at Diaz in a menacing fashion. About ten days later, three men in police uniforms arrived at Diaz’s home. After ordering Diaz to let them in, the men beat Diaz, searched his house, put a gun to his head, and told him that he “had to disappear from there, leave the country and never go back.” The men also inspected Diaz’s body for gang tattoos and confiscated his El Salvadoran national ID card. Diaz did not report to the police either this attack or the murder that he witnessed for fear of reprisal. The day after the attack, Diaz fled El Salvador. He entered the United States illegally at Eagle Pass, TX, just over a year later, and was apprehended near Carrizo Springs, TX three days after his arrival. Shortly thereafter, the 2008 order of removal against Diaz was restored, prompting Diaz to move for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) and deferral of removal under the CAT. In addition to his own testimony, Diaz provided letters from his wife and a friend back in El Salvador, along with a newspaper article about the shooting, all purporting to show that the police were responsible for both the shooting and Diaz’s assault. Despite finding that Diaz was a credible witness, the IJ denied deferral of removal and ruled …
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