FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT July 28, 2020 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court MERCEDES ERCILIA RECINOS- MARTINEZ; J.A.M., minor child, Petitioners, v. No. 19-9560 (Petition for Review) WILLIAM P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before BRISCOE, MATHESON, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Mercedes Ercilia Recinos-Martinez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) decision dismissing her appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. Exercising jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), we deny the petition in part and dismiss in part for lack of jurisdiction. I. BACKGROUND Petitioner arrived in the United States in February 2016, without valid immigration documents. An asylum officer determined Petitioner had a credible fear of returning to El Salvador and she was placed in removal proceedings, where she conceded removability, and applied for asylum,1 withholding of removal, and CAT protection. In a pre-hearing brief, Petitioner explained that after she and a friend witnessed a murder, they were both threatened, and her friend eventually disappeared. Petitioner maintained the threats amounted to persecution, and moreover, she feared future harm if she returned to El Salvador on account of her membership in a particular social group of “Salvadoran witnesses to a crime by gang members,” and on account of her anti-gang political opinion, as manifested by her failure to “fully comply[] with the gang’s demands.” Admin. R. at 275. At the merits hearing, Petitioner testified she left El Salvador in late January 2016, shortly after witnessing the murder. She recounted that while she, her son, and her friend Carla were out shopping, they saw two young men on a motorcycle, one of whom got off the motorcycle and shot a third young man. Petitioner believed the assailants were members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13) because they were 1 J.A.M. is Ms. Recinos-Martinez’s minor son. As such, he is a derivative beneficiary of his mother’s application for asylum. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(3). 2 wearing loose-fitting pants, long-sleeved shirts, and Adidas footwear. Petitioner, her son, and Carla were still on the scene when the police arrived but denied having seen anything. According to Petitioner, she was afraid to talk to the police because they would not be able to protect her, “[a]nd besides, . . . then they would ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals