PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 20-1035 FELIX MANUEL MORENO-OSORIO, Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: May 5, 2021 Decided: June 23, 2021 Before MOTZ, KING and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Petition for review denied by published opinion. Judge Agee wrote the opinion, in which Judge Motz and Judge King joined. ARGUED: Arnedo Silvano Valera, LAW OFFICES OF VALERA & ASSOCIATES P.C., Fairfax, Virginia, for Petitioner. Allison Frayer, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Melissa Neiman-Kelting, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. AGEE, Circuit Judge: Petitioner Felix Manuel Moreno-Osorio petitions for review of the orders of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) determining that he was ineligible for asylum based upon his conviction of a crime of violence; that he was ineligible for withholding of removal; and that he did not qualify for protection from removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Finding no factual or legal error, we deny the petition. I. A. The underlying facts are largely undisputed, as the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) found that Petitioner credibly testified during his initial hearing. Petitioner first arrived in the United States in 2009, and on December 17, 2016, he returned to Honduras pursuant to a grant of voluntary departure. Upon arriving that day, Petitioner and two of his cousins were confronted by “roughly eight to ten” individuals who may have been members of the Mara 18th Street gang (“Mara 18”). A.R. 142. The gang members, some of whom were armed, told Petitioner “that all those people who come back from the United States come back with money,” and ordered that he give them money. A.R. 199. He told them that he had no money, so in response, they demanded that he join their gang. According to Petitioner, when he refused to join, “They told me my life was on the line and that they would kill me if I didn’t either join them or give them money.” A.R. 201. The gang members gave him the night to consider their demand, and ordered him to meet them at a nearby school the next morning. 2 Petitioner testified that this threat caused him to fear for his life, so he decided to immediately return to the United States without filing a report with Honduran police about his encounter with the gang members. He testified that he believed that filing a police report would not be helpful because “the police do nothing in these cases,” as they are “corrupt.” A.R. 203. He based this view largely on two anecdotal experiences. First, at some unspecified time in the past, Mara 18 members allegedly demanded that his cousin pay them “rent money,” or else they would no longer allow him to operate his business as a taxi driver. A.R. 204. His cousin did …
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