Case: 20-60974 Document: 00516697075 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/31/2023 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 20-60974 FILED March 31, 2023 Heystin Jesus Lopez-Aguilar, Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A206 421 355 Before Richman, Chief Judge, and Elrod and Oldham, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Heystin Jesus Lopez-Aguilar petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) upholding an immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He argues that the BIA erred by determining that he had not demonstrated the required nexus between his persecution and his membership in a particular social group (PSG) without * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 20-60974 Document: 00516697075 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/31/2023 No. 20-60974 first deciding whether his proposed PSG was cognizable; that the BIA applied the wrong legal standard to his claim for withholding of removal; and that the BIA applied the wrong legal standard to his CAT claim and erred in determining he was ineligible for CAT protection. Because Lopez-Aguilar’s first argument remains unexhausted, we dismiss his petition as to that claim for lack of jurisdiction. The BIA applied the correct legal standards to Lopez- Aguilar’s withholding of removal and CAT claims, and substantial evidence supports the BIA’s factual conclusions regarding his ineligibility for CAT protection. We therefore deny Lopez-Aguilar’s petition as to those claims. I Lopez-Aguilar, a citizen and native of Honduras, entered the United States unlawfully in 2014. After being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents, Lopez-Aguilar—then fifteen years old—was served with a notice to appear, charging that he was removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) as being an “alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled . . . .” Lopez-Aguilar conceded the charge but applied for asylum and withholding of removal based upon persecution on account of his membership in a PSG. He also sought protection under the CAT. In 2018, an IJ held a hearing regarding Lopez-Aguilar’s three claims for relief. Lopez-Aguilar, who was then nineteen, testified that his parents had departed Honduras for the United States when he was three, leaving him and his brother in the care of a family friend named Oscar. According to Lopez-Aguilar, Oscar, a gang member, systematically abused him for thirteen years until Lopez-Aguilar fled to the United States. Lopez-Aguilar also claimed that other gang members—friends of Oscar’s—attempted to recruit him into the gang and assaulted him when he refused. Lopez-Aguilar stated 2 Case: 20-60974 Document: 00516697075 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/31/2023 No. 20-60974 that he feared he would suffer further abuse or death at the hands of Oscar and the other gang members if returned to Honduras. In support of his applications, Lopez-Aguilar submitted—among other items—affidavits from witnesses to Oscar’s abuse …
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