UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-1484 MIRIAM VERONICA ALVAREZ-PINEDA, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: November 2, 2020 Decided: December 1, 2020 Before THACKER and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges, and Stephanie A. GALLAGHER, United States District Judge for the District of Maryland, sitting by designation. Petition for review granted and remand awarded by unpublished opinion. Judge Gallagher wrote the opinion, in which Judge Thacker and Judge Quattlebaum joined. Jay S. Marks, THE LAW OFFICES OF JAY S. MARKS, LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland, for Petitioner. Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Anthony P. Nicastro, Assistant Director, Patricia E. Bruckner, Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. GALLAGHER, District Judge: I. Miriam Veronica Alvarez-Pineda, Petitioner, is a native and citizen of Guatemala who entered the United States without inspection on or around July 24, 2015, with her daughter, Diana Rachel Carrera-Alvarez. A.R. 299, 310. After the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) initiated removal proceedings, Ms. Alvarez-Pineda filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention against Torture (“CAT”). A.R. 181–93, 197–208. Ms. Alvarez-Pineda wrote in her application that although her daughter’s father, Cesar Carrera (“Carrera”), now lived in Texas, she feared his family in Guatemala would attempt to take Diana away from her if she returned to that country. A.R. 201. In an attached affidavit, Petitioner further stated that if she returned to Guatemala, she feared that she would suffer extortion, physical harm, rape, and murder from “gang members and delinquents” who “target single-mothers that lack traditional patriarchs.” A.R. 103. Ms. Alvarez-Pineda wrote that she left Guatemala because she had feared that Carrera’s family would kidnap Diana, id., and that now she feared that gangs in Guatemala could kidnap Diana and make ransom demands if they returned. A.R. 106. In the brief in support of her asylum application, Ms. Alvarez-Pineda identified herself as a member of the proposed particular social group comprised of “single mothers 2 in Guatemala.” 1 A.R. 281, 284–90. She said she feared returning to Guatemala because, as a “single mother” without “traditional patriarchs,” she “will be easy prey for the criminal groups,” A.R. 281, especially given her assertion that the country conditions reports in the record demonstrated the Guatemalan government’s “complete lack of ability to control [sic] against violence against women.” A.R. 282–83. Ms. Alvarez-Pineda specifically identified “the threat of death and sexual violence” as the future persecution she feared. A.R. 287. At a merits hearing on January 9, 2018, Ms. Alvarez-Pineda testified that, in July 2015, she separated from Carrera and sought to move out of the house she and Diana shared with his family. A.R. 90-91. The family became upset and said that Diana would have to stay in the home if Ms. Alvarez-Pineda left. A.R. 91. She now feared returning to Guatemala because ...
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