Appellate Case: 22-9513 Document: 010110762769 Date Filed: 11/03/2022 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT November 3, 2022 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court JAIME ARREDONDO HERNANDEZ, Petitioner, v. No. 22-9513 (Petition for Review) MERRICK B. GARLAND, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before McHUGH, MORITZ, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Jaime Arredondo Hernandez1 is a Mexican citizen. An immigration judge ordered that he be removed to Mexico and denied his application for protection under the Convention Against Torture. The Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. 1 Petitioner refers to himself in his briefs as Mr. Arredondo, so we will use that name as well. Appellate Case: 22-9513 Document: 010110762769 Date Filed: 11/03/2022 Page: 2 dismissed his appeal. He now petitions for review of the Board’s decision, and we deny his petition. Background Mr. Arredondo lived in Reynosa, a city near the United States border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. “Tamaulipas, a key corridor for smuggling drugs and migrants to the United States, has long been plagued by cartel violence.” Admin. R. at 542. The violence in Tamaulipas reached Mr. Arredondo several times, according to evidence he presented to the immigration judge. Cartel members assaulted and robbed him one day on his way to work. Later, when he worked on a project to help people with low incomes, armed cartel members detained him, beat him up, held a gun to his head, and threatened to kill him. They brought him to a leader of the Gulf Cartel, who told him he “was doing [his] job wrong” by helping people in need rather than “people like them.” Id. at 113. As a result of this confrontation, Mr. Arredondo resigned from his position. Mr. Arredondo also worked at his family’s gym as a personal trainer. One of his clients, a man named Elias Garza Garcia, was a leader of the Gulf Cartel, though Mr. Arredondo did not yet know it. Mr. Arredondo agreed to accompany Mr. Garcia to Mexico City for a surgery. During the trip federal agents arrested them for possessing marijuana, methamphetamine, and a firearm. Mr. Arredondo pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the arrest. Yet he denied guilt in his testimony to the immigration judge. He pleaded guilty, he said, because prison guards had 2 Appellate Case: 22-9513 Document: 010110762769 Date Filed: 11/03/2022 Page: 3 coerced him to do so through torture—hitting his hands …
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