Case: 17-14133 Date Filed: 10/31/2018 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-14133 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A203-034-057 ANGELA ADRIANA RIVERA MELO, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (October 31, 2018) Before TJOFLAT, MARTIN, and NEWSOM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 17-14133 Date Filed: 10/31/2018 Page: 2 of 10 Angela Melo, a native and citizen of Colombia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision to deny her asylum and withholding of removal claims. After careful review, we grant the petition and remand for further proceedings. I. Melo grew up in Colombia as part of a politically active family. 1 Her father was a member of the Colombian Liberal Party and served as a councilman at varying points in time for two different municipalities, La Mesa and Anolaima. As a child, Melo accompanied her father to party meetings. She eventually followed in her father’s footsteps and joined the party as well. Her family’s political connections helped secure Melo a job after she finished law school. At her father’s request, the mayor of Anolaima, who was also a member of the Colombian Liberal Party, appointed Melo to serve as the police and traffic inspector for the municipality. Part of Melo’s responsibilities as inspector included corpse retrieval. As a result, when the office received word in February 2000 of a dead body found in one of Anolaima’s rural districts, Melo was dispatched to the scene of the homicide. While there, she noticed a bracelet bearing the word “FARC” resting on the ground by the body. FARC refers to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, an anti-government guerilla group. 1 The BIA presumed Melo was credible, as do we. The factual background therefore draws heavily from her testimony before the immigration judge (“IJ”). 2 Case: 17-14133 Date Filed: 10/31/2018 Page: 3 of 10 Melo tagged the bracelet as evidence and attached it to a report, both of which she then forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. The next day, she returned to her office and found a folded piece of paper on her desk. The letter was signed “FARC, Front 42” and warned her not to file evidence of the bracelet if she wished to avoid certain consequences. Melo ignored the threat because it “was against [her] principles and ethics,” and did not bring the note to the attention of her superiors. Two months passed without incident. In April, however, five young men cornered Melo while she rode the bus home from work. The bus was mostly empty, and the men surrounded Melo by sitting in front of her, next to her, and directly behind her. They greeted her by name and asked her why she was being so “disobedient.” They wondered why she didn’t pay attention to the orders “fired at [her]” and expressed their hope that “nothing [would] happen” to her as ...
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