United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 18-1122 FRANCISCO AVELAR GONZALEZ, Petitioner, v. MATTHEW G. WHITAKER,* ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Lynch, Stahl, and Lipez, Circuit Judges. Carlos E. Estrada, Ashley M. Barkoudah, and Estrada Law Office on brief for petitioner. Maarja T. Luhtaru, Trial Attorney, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Rachel L. Browning, Acting Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief for respondent. November 15, 2018 * Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2), Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker has been substituted for former Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions, III as the respondent. LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Francisco Avelar-Gonzalez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, seeks judicial review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision affirming an Immigration Judge's (IJ) denial of Avelar-Gonzalez's requests for asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 208(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a), for withholding of removal under INA § 241(b)(3), 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3), and for protection under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT).1 We focus on his argument, which underlies all his claims, that the BIA erred in upholding the IJ's determination that Avelar- Gonzalez did not provide adequate corroboration for his claims. There is substantial evidence for the determination that Avelar- Gonzalez did not provide adequate corroboration, which was reasonably available to him, for crucial elements of his claims, and so we deny the petition for review. We dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Avelar-Gonzalez's claims regarding past persecution, ineffective assistance of counsel, and protection under the CAT. I. Avelar-Gonzalez entered the United States on January 29, 2012, near Hidalgo, Texas. The next day, he gave a sworn statement 1 The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85, was implemented in the United States by the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105–277, § 2242, 112 Stat. 2681–761 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (2012)). - 2 - to the Border Patrol, discussed later. On February 20, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security served Avelar-Gonzalez with a Notice to Appear in removal proceedings, and charged him with inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) as an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. On March 16, 2012, Avelar-Gonzalez, through prior counsel, conceded to the charge of removability, declined to name a country for removal, and stated that he would seek "relief in the form of asylum, withholding of removal, [and the] Convention Against Torture." A change of venue to Boston was granted on July 13, 2012. Avelar-Gonzalez filed an application for asylum on December 11, 2012. The affidavit attached to Avelar-Gonzalez's 2012 asylum application contained only a single general paragraph alleging being "chased . . . out of [El Salvador]" due to involvement with the Nationalist Republican Alliance ...
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