USCA11 Case: 20-13177 Date Filed: 04/20/2021 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-13177 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A206-775-482 NELSON RONEY FUNEZ-TURCIOS, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (April 20, 2021) Before WILSON, ROSENBAUM, and BRANCH, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 20-13177 Date Filed: 04/20/2021 Page: 2 of 10 Nelson Roney Funez-Turcios petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), affirming the denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He argues that the BIA erred in concluding that the group of “former public-school student[s] who refused gang recruitment and return[] to Honduras as a member of an American family, spouse to a U.S. Citizen and stepfather to three U.S. Citizen children” does not qualify as a “particular social group” under the INA, and that the record compels a finding that he would be tortured by or with the acquiescence of the Honduran government if he were returned to Honduras. Because the BIA properly found that Funez- Turcios’s proposed group did not qualify as a “particular social group” and substantial evidence supports the BIA’s CAT determination, we deny the petition. I. Background Funez-Turcios, a native and citizen of Honduras, entered the United States without authorization in 2014. In January 2015, he filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief, followed by an amended application in 2018. He claimed that he suffered and feared persecution on account of his membership in a particular social group, and that he feared that he would be tortured if he returned to Honduras. 2 USCA11 Case: 20-13177 Date Filed: 04/20/2021 Page: 3 of 10 In his application, Funez-Turcios stated that the neighborhood where he lived in Honduras was controlled by criminal gangs known as the Maras, and that the Maras forced young men like him to join them, sell drugs, and “do other illegal things.” He stated that while he was in school in Honduras in 2013, a group of Maras would wait around the school looking for recruits, and that one day, they threatened him. Specifically, while he was attending a school event at a local park, the group caught him and told him he “had to join them sooner or later.” After he refused, the group beat him and told him that he had to join the gang and that they knew where he lived and who his family was. The next day, his parents spoke to his school’s principal about the incident. Funez-Turcios stated that the principal told his parents that he would call the police and get security for the school, but that it never happened. After the group of Maras pursued him a second time as he was leaving school, Funez-Turcios decided to quit school and …
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