NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 20a0549n.06 No. 20-3235 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Sep 25, 2020 DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk CELSO AJQUI GOMEZ, ) ) Petitioner, ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) OF AN ORDER OF THE v. ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION ) APPEALS WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, ) ) Respondent. ) OPINION ) Before: BATCHELDER, MOORE, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges. KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Celso Ajqui Gomez petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denying his applications for relief from removal. Because substantial evidence supports the BIA’s decision and the immigration judge’s underlying decision that the BIA adopted, we DENY the petition for review. I. BACKGROUND Ajqui Gomez is a native and citizen of Guatemala. Administrative Record (“A.R.”) at 335 (Notice to Appear). He entered the United States on or about August 11, 2014, and was not admitted or paroled after inspection by an Immigration Officer. Id. After being served with a notice to appear, and conceding its removability charge, id. at 140–41 (Hr’g Tr. at 38–39), Ajqui Gomez appeared before an immigration judge for removal proceedings on May 14, 2018, and No. 20-3235, Ajqui Gomez v. Barr submitted an application for relief from removal, id. at 157–58 (Hr’g Tr. at 53–54). He applied for asylum, statutory withholding of removal, and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Id. at 67 (I-589 Appl. at 5). During Ajqui Gomez’s removal proceedings, he detailed the efforts of three members of the Mara-13 gang to recruit him. During his first encounter with the gang, he declined their request to join them, and they became upset but did not harm him. Id. at 170 (Hr’g Tr. at 66). During his second encounter with the gang members, Ajqui Gomez not only rebuffed their efforts to recruit him but “told them to stop looking for [him].” Id. at 174 (Hr’g Tr. at 70). In response, one of the gang members—whom Ajqui Gomez identified by name—said that “it was better to think about it because if [he] decided not, they were going to kill [him].” Id. Although the gang members “said that nothing was going to happen that time, [they said that] the next time they would either hit [him] or torture [him].” Id. at 175 (Hr’g Tr. at 71). In his final encounter with the gang members, Ajqui Gomez told them that he did not want to join the gang, and they physically attacked him, telling him that “if [he] did anything they w[ould] kill [him] and [his] family and that they w[ould] continue looking for [him] until they found [him].” Id. at 179 (Hr’g Tr. at 75). Eventually, he lost consciousness out of fear, and the gang members stopped the beating. Id. at 177 (Hr’g Tr. at 73). Ajqui Gomez remembers his parents coming and bringing him home. Id. at 178 (Hr’g Tr. at 74). When asked why the gang members wanted him to join so badly, Ajqui ...
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