NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 21-2098 ______ VICENTE FRANCISCO SORTO, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ___________ On Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (A095-060-404) Immigration Judge: Mirlande Tadal ___________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) May 3, 2022 ___________ Before: GREENAWAY, JR., PORTER, and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges. (Filed: July 11, 2022) ___________ OPINION* ___________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. PHIPPS, Circuit Judge. Vicente Sorto, a native and citizen of El Salvador, who experienced violence from gangs in that country, entered the United States illegally, and while here, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault under New Jersey law. That conviction prompted removal proceedings, and Sorto did not contest his removability. Rather, he sought several forms of relief from removal, and the Immigration Judge ruled against him on each. Sorto administratively appealed, and the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a final order for his removal. He timely petitioned this Court for review of that order, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1), (4), and for the reasons below, we will deny the petition. BACKGROUND By his account, Sorto had three hostile encounters with MS-13 gang members in El Salvador in the 1990s. In February 1993, members of that gang kidnapped, detained, and threatened him, releasing him only after he agreed to pay a lump sum of 10,000 pesos and bi-weekly payments of 2,500 pesos. He paid that sum for over five years until he experienced financial hardship in April 1998. But in November 1998, a gang member noticed Sorto celebrating with coworkers in a restaurant, and that gang member questioned Sorto’s ability to celebrate at a restaurant in light of his professed financial hardship. After that exchange, the gang member left and returned with about a dozen gang members. A confrontation ensued, and Sorto was shot in the head as he tried to disarm one of the gang members. He received stitches for that wound and fled to Honduras. Two weeks later, out of concern for his wife and child, Sorto returned to El Salvador. The same gang members were looking for him, and when they found him at a 2 taxi station, it got violent. The gang boss shot one of Sorto’s friends, and another of Sorto’s friends fatally stabbed the gang boss. Sorto fought against a different gang member and suffered minor injuries. Afterwards, Sorto took a taxi to Honduras and never returned to El Salvador. The gang later threatened members of Sorto’s family and killed Sorto’s friends who participated in the fight. In July 1999, Sorto entered the United States without inspection or parole. Two years later, Sorto’s wife and their children joined him in the United States, and they have lived here ever since. While in the United States, Sorto had a child with another woman, and in May 2008, he was arrested and charged with …
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