Case: 18-11130 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 1 of 12 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-11130 ________________________ Agency No. A206-733-433 GEISEL GEOBANY ZAPATA-MATUTE, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (August 28, 2019) Before MARTIN, ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges, and MARTINEZ, * District Judge. MARTIN, Circuit Judge: * Honorable Jose E. Martinez, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, sitting by designation. Case: 18-11130 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 2 of 12 Geisel Zapata-Matute petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision denying him asylum, withholding of removal, and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). After careful consideration and with the benefit of oral argument, we grant the petition in part, dismiss in part, deny in part, and remand his CAT claim for further consideration by the agency. I. Mr. Zapata-Matute is a nineteen-year-old native and citizen of Honduras. When he was two years old, his father left Honduras for the United States. His mother followed suit two years later, entrusting Mr. Zapata-Matute to the care of his grandparents and uncles. Mr. Zapata-Matute’s grandparents ensured he regularly attended school and helped out with the family farm. From time to time, Mr. Zapata-Matute’s parents would send money back to Honduras to help pay for his studies, clothing, and other needs. Mr. Zapata-Matute had twelve uncles, who also lived on the family farm with him. He was particularly close to his uncle, Henry Gerardo, who had been a member of the Maras, a word for Honduras’s gangs. At some point in the past, Mr. Gerardo came to want no further involvement with the Maras and broke away from it. This angered the Maras, who threatened to kill everyone in the family if Mr. Gerardo didn’t turn himself in. Mr. Gerardo went into hiding and the other 2 Case: 18-11130 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 3 of 12 uncles began sleeping outside the house, armed with guns, to protect the family. Mr. Zapata-Matute’s father became concerned for his son’s safety and arranged for a “coyote” to bring Zapata-Matute across the border and into the United States so he could rejoin his parents. Mr. Zapata-Matute arrived in the United States on May 3, 2014—two weeks after his fourteenth birthday. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) swiftly initiated removal proceedings against him for entering the country without admission or parole. DHS also detained Mr. Zapata-Matute in Texas, eventually releasing him into his mother’s custody in Green Cove Springs, Florida. While removal proceedings remained pending against Mr. Zapata-Matute, he received word from his grandmother back in Honduras that Mr. Gerardo had been murdered. As it turns out, Mr. Gerardo, like Mr. Zapata-Matute, had fled to the United States for safety. However, shortly after this country deported him back to Honduras, the Maras found Mr. Gerardo and gunned him down in broad daylight. The same gang also shot ...
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