Case: 18-60300 Document: 00515806421 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/02/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED April 2, 2021 No. 18-60300 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Wendy Carolina Castro-Rodriguez, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A206 879 537 Before Ho, Oldham, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Wendy Carolina Castro-Rodriguez, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing her appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of asylum and withholding of removal. For the following reasons, the petition for review is DENIED. * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 18-60300 Document: 00515806421 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/02/2021 No. 18-60300 Castro-Rodriguez was the primary caregiver and sole parental figure for her nephew, Cristian. In October 2014, while Cristian was visiting his grandparents, two men accosted him, forced him to ingest drugs, and pulled his pants down to carve a symbol of the letter “Y” in his thigh with a knife. Cristian was twelve years old at the time of the attack. Luckily, Cristian escaped. Castro-Rodriguez contends that the perpetrators were members of the MS-13 gang, which is known for targeting young boys for recruitment into the gang. Once MS-13 discovered that Cristian lived with Castro-Rodriguez, she began to receive threatening calls. During these calls, the caller referenced the attack on Cristian and mentioned information about Castro- Rodriguez’s daughter. In an effort to stop the calls, Castro-Rodriguez changed her phone number; however, these efforts proved futile and the calls continued. The caller threatened violence to Cristian, Castro-Rodriguez, and Castro-Rodriguez’s daughter if Castro-Rodriguez did not cooperate with handing Cristian over for membership in MS-13. Castro-Rodriguez believed the gang would kill her and the children if she failed to cooperate. Because she also believed Honduran law enforcement had little capacity to combat the activities of MS-13, Castro-Rodriguez arranged for herself, her daughter, and Cristian to flee Honduras for the United States. They entered the United States without inspection on December 3, 2014. On December 4, 2014, the Department of Homeland Security served Castro- Rodriguez with a Notice to Appear, charging her with being removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 212(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. Castro-Rodriguez conceded removability at a master calendar hearing on June 3, 2015. On July 9, 2015, she applied for asylum via form I-589. 2 Case: 18-60300 Document: 00515806421 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/02/2021 No. 18-60300 The IJ and the BIA both concluded that Castro-Rodriguez failed to meet the “nexus” requirement under 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and thus denied her application for asylum. On appeal, Castro-Rodriguez asserts that this determination …
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