Appellate Case: 18-9570 Document: 010110663824 Date Filed: 03/29/2022 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of PUBLISH Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 29, 2022 FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Christopher M. Wolpert _________________________________ Clerk of Court KELLY CAMILA GONZALEZ AGUILAR, f/k/a Oscar Alexis Gonzalez Aguilar, Petitioner, No. 18-9570 v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States, ∗ Respondent. _________________________________ Appeal from the Board of Immigration Appeals (Petition for Review) _________________________________ Nicole Henning, Jones Day, Chicago, Illinois (Dennis D’Aquila, Jones Day, and Keren Zwick and Tania Linares Garcia, National Immigrant Justice Center, with her on the briefs), on behalf of the Petitioner. Scott Stewart, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division; Claire L. Workman, Senior Litigation Counsel; Rosanne M. Perry, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, with him on the brief), on behalf of the Respondent. _______________________ ∗ After oral argument, the Honorable Merrick B. Garland became the Attorney General of the United States. We thus substitute Attorney General Garland as the respondent. Appellate Case: 18-9570 Document: 010110663824 Date Filed: 03/29/2022 Page: 2 Before BACHARACH, PHILLIPS, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. ∗ ∗ _________________________________ BACHARACH, Circuit Judge. _________________________________ Kelly Gonzalez Aguilar is a transgender woman from Honduras. She came to the United States and applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and deferral of removal. In support, Kelly claimed • past persecution in Honduras from her uncle’s abuse, • fear of future persecution from pervasive discrimination and violence against transgender women in Honduras, and • likely torture upon return to Honduras. The immigration judge denied the applications and ordered removal to Honduras. In denying asylum, the immigration judge found no pattern or practice of persecution. Kelly appealed the denial of each application, and the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the appeal. The dismissal led Kelly to petition for judicial review. We grant the petition. On the asylum claim, any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to find a pattern or practice of persecution against transgender women in Honduras. ∗∗ The Honorable Monroe G. McKay participated on the panel, but he passed away during the pendency of the appeal. The Honorable Gregory A. Phillips replaced Judge McKay on the panel. 2 Appellate Case: 18-9570 Document: 010110663824 Date Filed: 03/29/2022 Page: 3 I. Kelly fled Honduras and sought asylum in the United States. Kelly was born a male and named “Oscar” at birth. 1 From an early age, however, Oscar displayed many feminine qualities, creating tensions at home. These tensions flared when Oscar’s mother left for Mexico. When she left, Oscar went to live with his uncle, a violent man who often beat Oscar and expressed disgust for his feminine behavior. The uncle told Oscar that he was creating “bad luck for the family” and forced him to stop spending time on feminine activities, such as talking to girls and watching soap operas. R. at 106, 217. The uncle cut Oscar’s hair and beat him, calling him …
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