In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit No. 17-2969 FRANCISCO ALBERTO ROMERO ARRAZABAL, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General of the United States,* Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A045-091-341 ARGUED APRIL 3, 2019 — DECIDED JULY 3, 2019 Before WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and ROVNER, Circuit Judges. * We substitute William P. Barr, the current Attorney General of the United States, as the Respondent in this action. See Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2). 2 No. 17-2969 ROVNER, Circuit Judge. This matter is before this court for a second time on Francisco Arrazabal’s pending requests for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Arrazabal contends that he faces the likelihood of continued persecution and torture in his native El Salvador as someone who has renounced his membership in the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, more commonly known as MS-13. Two years ago, we remanded the matter to the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “Board” or “BIA”) for further proceedings after concluding that both the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) and the Board, in rejecting Arrazabal’s claims, had overlooked certain evidence that on its face corroborated Arrazabal’s account. Arrazabal v. Lynch, 822 F.3d 961 (7th Cir. 2016). The case returns to us now following a second hearing before an IJ, to whom additional evidence was presented, and another round of review before the Board, which again resulted in the denial of Arrazabal’s requests for relief. Because the IJ and the Board mischaracterized certain evidence and yet again ignored the corroborative aspects of the evidence, we conclude that we must remand for further proceedings for a second time. I. Arrazabal was born in El Salvador and admitted to this country as a lawful permanent resident in 1995, at the age of 19. His mother and sister live in the United States and are now American citizens. After disagreements caused his mother to evict him from her Los Angeles home in 1996, he became homeless. Shortly thereafter, he was recruited into the MS-13 No. 17-2969 3 gang (which he says offered him shelter and food),1 had a number of run-ins with the law, and was eventually convicted on firearms and drug charges. While incarcerated, he had himself tattooed on his chest, fingers, arms, head, and back to signal his affiliation with MS-13. His criminal record resulted in a revocation of his status as a lawful permanent resident of this country. His subsequent request for asylum was denied, and he was ordered removed to El Salvador in 2001. Arrazabal alleges that he renounced his gang membership upon his return to El Salvador, repeatedly rebuffed the efforts of local MS-13 gang members to involve him in gang activities, and as a result suffered violence at the hands of MS-13 (which opposes his efforts to leave it), a rival gang (who think he is active in MS-13), and the police (who likewise believe he is still an active gang member). He ...
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