Case: 18-10985 Date Filed: 10/28/2019 Page: 1 of 28 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-10985 ________________________ Agency No. A206-918-567 ZURY ALVIZURIZ-LORENZO, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (October 28, 2019) Before WILSON and NEWSOM, Circuit Judges, and PROCTOR, * District Judge. PROCTOR, District Judge: * Honorable R. David Proctor, District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, sitting by designation. Case: 18-10985 Date Filed: 10/28/2019 Page: 2 of 28 Zury Alvizuriz-Lorenzo, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which affirmed the decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ) denying asylum. The BIA and IJ denied Alvizuriz-Lorenzo’s claims because she failed to prove that her two proposed social groups—“girls or young women in Guatemala who cannot leave their family as a result of their age or economic conditions” or “girls or young women who cannot leave their family”—were cognizable for the purposes of asylum. After careful consideration, and particularly in light of the standard of review applicable here, we deny the petition. I. Background Alvizuriz-Lorenzo entered the United States without inspection in 2015 through Laredo, Texas. She boarded a Florida-bound bus, but Immigration officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stopped the bus and took her into custody. DHS commenced removal proceedings and issued a Notice to Appear, which charged Alvizuriz-Lorenzo with being removable under § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Alvizuriz-Lorenzo conceded removability as charged. However, to avoid removal, Alvizuriz-Lorenzo applied for asylum. She asserted that she suffered and feared persecution on account of her membership in a particular social group. She did not 2 Case: 18-10985 Date Filed: 10/28/2019 Page: 3 of 28 initially specify a particular social group in her application. At her merits hearing, Alvizuriz-Lorenzo sought asylum based on her membership in a particular social group consisting of “girls or young women in Guatemala who cannot leave their family as a result of their age or economic conditions.” Alternatively, Alvizuriz-Lorenzo has defined her particular social group as “girls or young women in Guatemala who cannot leave their family.” Although not mentioned in her application, at the hearing Alvizuriz-Lorenzo testified in detail about the abhorrent events that led to her fleeing Guatemala to seek refuge in the United States. Beginning at age nine, Alvizuriz-Lorenzo was sexually abused by her grandfather. She explained that her grandfather sexually abused her on a weekly basis until she was thirteen. She provided the IJ with specifics about the reprehensible misconduct of her grandfather. It was detestable. The grandfather’s repeated sexual abuse ceased when Alvizuriz-Lorenzo’s older brother, Luis Miguel, caught him in the act. Luis Miguel informed their grandmother of her husband’s sexual abuse of Alvizuriz-Lorenzo. The grandmother confronted her husband and, after engaging in a verbal confrontation with him, suffered a ...
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