Case: 22-60177 Document: 00516687083 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 22-60177 Summary Calendar FILED March 23, 2023 Lyle W. Cayce Carlos Leonel Erazo-Flores, Clerk Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A209-305-007 Before King, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Carlos Leonel Erazo-Flores petitions for review of the BIA’s decision denying him asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. For the following reasons, the petition is DENIED. * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 22-60177 Document: 00516687083 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 No. 22-60177 I. Carlos Leonel Erazo-Flores is a native and citizen of Honduras. He testified that in 2013, he was leaving church in his village in Honduras when four drunk male strangers came up to him, grabbed him, beat him, and raped him. The men took Erazo-Flores, threw him on the ground, and asked him why he went to church. They laughed at him, said he was “going to be a gay [sic],” and threatened to kill him if he yelled. Erazo-Flores did not report this incident to the police because, in part, he was afraid the police would tell others that he had been sexually assaulted. Additionally, Erazo-Flores testified to various encounters with gang members between April 2014 and May 2015. Some men tried to steal Erazo- Flores’s motorcycle, and gang members later attempted to recruit Erazo- Flores. Erazo-Flores reported one such incident to the police, but an officer tore up his written statement and told him that the gangs would find out he had filed a report. Erazo-Flores and his father then received various threats via text message. Finally, in June 2017, someone—Erazo-Flores believes it was a gang member—hit the car of Erazo-Flores’s father from behind and shot at him. In 2016, Erazo-Flores entered the United States without authorization. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) then issued him a Notice to Appear (“NTA”) charging him with removal as a noncitizen not in possession of a valid entry document at time of entry. Through counsel, Erazo-Flores conceded the NTA’s factual allegations and charge. He then filed for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the 2 Case: 22-60177 Document: 00516687083 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 No. 22-60177 Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) based on, as relevant to this appeal, his religion and membership in a particular social group (“PSG”). 1 At his hearing in front of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”), Erazo-Flores proffered seven PSGs based primarily on his imputed membership in the LGBTQ community, Catholicism, and opposition to criminal gangs. 2 The IJ denied Erazo-Flores’s application. Concerning his asylum and withholding of removal claims, the IJ first held that Erazo-Flores could not establish the requisite nexus to a protected ground. The IJ also held that Erazo-Flores’s proffered PSG of “Honduran male witnesses” was not a …
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