Case: 18-60785 Document: 00515251704 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/30/2019 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED No. 18-60785 December 30, 2019 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce Clerk ELSY DEL CARMEN GARCIA-VENTURA, Petitioner v. WILLIAM P. BARR, U. S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A208 678 245 Before BARKSDALE, HAYNES, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: * Elsy del Carmen Garcia-Ventura, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) dismissal of her appeal from an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of her applications for asylum and withholding of removal. She fails, however, to address withholding of removal. * Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4. Case: 18-60785 Document: 00515251704 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/30/2019 No. 18-60785 Regarding asylum, that claim is based on her partner’s acts of domestic violence in El Salvador. She contends: the IJ erred in finding she failed to show the Salvadoran government was unwilling or unable to control her persecutor; the Attorney General’s decision in Matter of A-B-, 27 I. & N. Dec. 316 (Att’y Gen. 2018), erred by categorically barring domestic-violence-asylum claims; and the BIA erred in holding her claimed particular social groups non- cognizable. The BIA’s legal conclusions are reviewed de novo. Orellana-Monson v. Holder, 685 F.3d 511, 517 (5th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). Its factual findings, including whether an alien is eligible for asylum, are reviewed for substantial evidence and are affirmed unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. Zhang v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 339, 343–44 (5th Cir. 2005) (citations omitted). Concerning the challenge to the finding by the IJ, an IJ’s findings and conclusions are not reviewed unless they influenced the BIA’s reasoning. Orellana-Monson, 685 F.3d at 517 (citation omitted). In this instance, and as Garcia concedes, we do not review her challenges to aspects of the IJ’s decision because it did not influence the BIA’s decision. See id. at 511 (citation omitted). To establish membership in a particular social group under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A), an alien must demonstrate that she is a member of a “group of persons that share a common immutable characteristic that [she] either cannot or should not be required to change because [the characteristic] is fundamental to [her] individual identit[y] or conscience[ ] ”. Id. at 518 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Such a group must, inter alia: be particular, exist independently of the harm asserted, and not be defined circularly by the persecution suffered. Gonzales-Veliz v. Barr, 938 F.3d 219, 230–32 (5th Cir. 2019) (citations omitted). 2 Case: 18-60785 Document: 00515251704 Page: 3 Date Filed: 12/30/2019 No. 18-60785 Circuit precedent forecloses Garcia’s claim that Matter of A-B- erred by categorically banning domestic-violence-asylum claims and that the BIA’s ...
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