USCA11 Case: 20-10116 Date Filed: 04/22/2021 Page: 1 of 11 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-10116 ________________________ Agency No. A206-621-829 JOSE CARLOS ANGEL-LOPEZ, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (April 22, 2021) Before LAGOA, ANDERSON and MARCUS, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: In this immigration proceeding, Jose Carlos Angel-Lopez challenges a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum and order of removal. After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we deny his petition. USCA11 Case: 20-10116 Date Filed: 04/22/2021 Page: 2 of 11 I. Angel-Lopez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, entered the United States without inspection in 2014. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued a notice to appear, charging him with being removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled by an immigration officer. An IJ issued a removal order in absentia when Angel-Lopez failed to appear for a hearing in 2015. First proceeding pro se, Angel-Lopez eventually admitted to the allegations in his notice to appear, and the IJ found him removable as charged. Based on a motion by the DHS, the IJ later found Angel-Lopez mentally incompetent to represent himself and assigned counsel to represent him. In April 2019, Angel-Lopez, through counsel, applied for asylum and withholding of removal based on the claim that he had a well-founded fear of future persecution, and sought relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”). In support of his application, Angel-Lopez submitted his psychiatric medical records, which revealed that he suffers from schizophrenia and sometimes exhibits “odd and bizarre behaviors.” He also proffered two declarations by Dr. Samuel Nickels, an expert on mental health services and the treatment of the mentally ill in El Salvador, who described the underfunded state of mental 2 USCA11 Case: 20-10116 Date Filed: 04/22/2021 Page: 3 of 11 healthcare in El Salvador. Dr. Nickels said that electroshock therapy was a “common treatment” at the sole public psychiatric hospital, and it was “often” delivered without anesthesia and without patient consent. However, the hospital recently began implementing protocols to better protect patients. He added that individuals with psychosocial disabilities faced strong stigmatization across Salvadorian society. The police “dealt harshly” with everyone and individuals with psychological disabilities were at an “extreme risk of harm or abuse.” Gangs similarly abused individuals with mental illnesses. At the hearing, Angel-Lopez’s counsel proposed two particular social groups as the basis for Angel-Lopez’s claims: (1) “individuals in El Salvador who suffer from schizophrenia”; and (2) “individuals from El Salvador who suffer from schizophrenia and display erratic behavior.” The IJ determined that Angel-Lopez failed to show that his fear of future persecution on account of his …
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