Case: 18-10303 Date Filed: 11/06/2018 Page: 1 of 6 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-10303 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A206-440-470 EDGAR ALEXANDER PIRELA PIRELA, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (November 6, 2018) Case: 18-10303 Date Filed: 11/06/2018 Page: 2 of 6 Before WILSON, MARTIN, and HULL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Edgar Pirela Pirela petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). 1 After careful review, we deny the petition. I. Pirela, a citizen of Venezuela, attempted to enter the United States at Miami International Airport in 2014. Immigration authorities determined he was inadmissible but referred him for a credible fear interview. An asylum officer found Pirela demonstrated a credible fear of returning to Venezuela. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put Pirela in removal proceedings. Pirela applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief. To qualify for asylum, an applicant must establish “a well-founded fear that his or her political opinion (or other statutorily listed factor) will cause harm or suffering that rises to the level of persecution.” Forgue v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 401 F.3d 1282, 1286 (11th Cir. 2005) (quotation marks omitted). To qualify for withholding of removal, an applicant must show that his life or freedom would be threatened in 1 Pirela did not raise the BIA’s denial of his CAT claim before this Court. We therefore consider it abandoned on appeal. Sepulveda v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 401 F.3d 1226, 1228 n.2 (11th Cir. 2005) (per curiam). 2 Case: 18-10303 Date Filed: 11/06/2018 Page: 3 of 6 the proposed country of removal because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A); 8 C.F.R. § 208.16. To qualify for CAT relief, an applicant must show it is “more likely than not he . . . would be tortured if removed to the proposed country of removal.” 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c)(2). Pirela claimed persecution on the basis of his political opinion—specifically, his membership in Un Nuevo Tiempo, a political party that opposes the Venezuelan government led by President Nicolás Maduro. His asylum application included an affidavit in which Pirela swore to several incidents he said show past persecution. He said a group of five men broke into his family’s home, attacked his mother, and demanded monthly payments; that his mother received a phone call days before the attack threatening violence if the family did not stop using their home as a political meeting place; that four of his family members were killed between 2010 and 2011; that he received a threatening phone call from a regime supporter telling him to stop using the family home as a political meeting place; that he was the victim of an attempted ...
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