Marvin Fernando Zacarias-Lopez v. U.S. Attorney General


USCA11 Case: 20-12949 Date Filed: 06/04/2021 Page: 1 of 11 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-12949 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A208-455-102 MARVIN FERNANDO ZACARIAS-LOPEZ, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (June 4, 2021) Before WILSON, JORDAN, and GRANT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 20-12949 Date Filed: 06/04/2021 Page: 2 of 11 Marvin Fernando Zacarias-Lopez petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals final order affirming the immigration judge’s denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. We deny the petition. I. Zacarias-Lopez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, entered the United States illegally at or near Hidalgo, Texas in 2015. The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against him by filing of a notice to appear in immigration court, charging that he was removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) as an alien who was present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. Zacarias-Lopez admitted the factual allegations in the notice to appear, conceded removability as charged, and filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). In support of his application, Zacarias-Lopez stated that beginning in 2009 when he was 11 years old, members of the gang called the Zetas threatened and harassed him. He was mistreated by the Zetas because he did not have enough money to pay them a monthly fee so that they would leave him alone. They asked him for money and threatened him but did not physically harm him. Zacarias- 2 USCA11 Case: 20-12949 Date Filed: 06/04/2021 Page: 3 of 11 Lopez reported the mistreatment to the police, but the police have an agreement with the Zetas to set them free after they are arrested. Under pressure from the Zetas—and from his father, who wanted Zacarias-Lopez to quit school and work with him—Zacarias-Lopez eventually dropped out and began working. His mother sent him to the United States to find freedom and security for his family. Zacarias-Lopez testified that the Zetas were aggressive and violent— sometimes they hit people, or they pointed guns at people and threatened to kill them. The Zetas controlled the territory in Guatemala where Zacarias-Lopez and his family lived, and he did not believe that he could safely relocate within Guatemala today because the country was contaminated with corruption and the Zetas would find him wherever he went. He acknowledged that his family still lived in Guatemala and the Zetas had not been looking for him since he left, but he said that they still bothered people who lived in the same town. Zacarias-Lopez also submitted the State Department’s 2015 Human Rights Report for Guatemala and 2016 Crime and Safety Report for Guatemala. The 2015 Guatemala Human Rights Report stated that primary human …

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Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals