Marta Lilian Alas Bonilla v. U.S. Attorney General


USCA11 Case: 20-12672 Date Filed: 04/12/2021 Page: 1 of 6 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-12672 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A206-768-623 MARTA LILIAN ALAS BONILLA, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (April 12, 2021) Before JORDAN, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 20-12672 Date Filed: 04/12/2021 Page: 2 of 6 Marta Alas Bonilla, a native and citizen of El Salvador, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s summary dismissal of her administrative appeal from the Immigration Judge’s final removal order (which in part denied her application for asylum). She argues that she adequately specified the reasons for her appeal in her administrative notice of appeal. After careful review, we affirm the BIA’s dismissal because Ms. Bonilla failed to administratively exhaust her claim. I Ms. Bonilla fled El Salvador while still in high school after her uncles were murdered by a gang. She entered the United States in 2014 as an unaccompanied minor. After the Department of Homeland Security sought to remove her under § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 212(a)(6)(A)(i), she filed an application for asylum and withholding of removal. Following an initial denial by United States Citizenship and Immigration services, Ms. Bonilla submitted a revised application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture at a hearing before an Immigration Judge. See AR at 51, 138–47. The IJ denied her application, finding her testimony credible but ruling her claimed social group for purposes of asylum—“a young lady subject [to] retaliation by gang member[s] due to the fact that a family member was killed by…gang members” — was “too amorphous and overly broad under the facts.” Id. at 29. The IJ also found that Ms. Bonilla had failed to establish 2 USCA11 Case: 20-12672 Date Filed: 04/12/2021 Page: 3 of 6 either a well-founded fear of present or future persecution on account of a protected ground or that she had suffered persecution in the past. She therefore did not qualify for asylum or the more stringent withholding of removal. See id. The IJ also denied CAT relief because Ms. Bonilla failed to establish that the El Salvador government would consent to her torture or allow her to be tortured. See id. at 30. Ms. Bonilla timely appealed to the BIA. On her notice of appeal, however, she indicated that she did not intend to file a separate written brief and only stated the following: The Honorable Immigration Judge abused [sic] discretion when [sic] denied Respondent’s Form I-589, Application for Asylum and Witholding of Removal. Despite the fact, the Respondent suffered past persecution in El Salvador. Respondent testified in sufficient detail to warrant a grant. The Immigration Judge abused his discretion. The Respondent reserve[s] the right [sic] [to] make any and all other arguments after they review the transcript of the record …

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