NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 22a0518n.06 No. 22-3134 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT Dec 14, 2022 DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk GRICELDA FLORIDALMA MORALES- ) MORALES, HALSSIN KENNEDY LOPEZ- ) ) MORALES, ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW Petitioners, ) OF AN ORDER OF THE ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION v. ) APPEALS ) MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, ) OPINION Respondent. ) ) Before: MOORE, STRANCH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which STRANCH, J., joined. MURPHY, J. (pp. 13–18), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Gricelda Floridalma Morales-Morales petitions this court for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing her appeal of the denial of her application for asylum.1 The BIA dismissed Morales-Morales’s appeal based on its finding that she was not eligible for asylum because she had not established either past persecution on account of her race or particular social groups or a well-founded fear of future persecution. Because the BIA failed to consider aspects of Morales-Morales’s claim and 1 Initially, Morales-Morales applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. On appeal, however, Morales-Morales challenges only the BIA’s dismissal of her appeal of the denial of her asylum application. No. 22-3134, Morales-Morales et al. v. Garland relevant record evidence, we GRANT the petition for review, VACATE the BIA’s order, and REMAND this case to the BIA for proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. BACKGROUND Morales-Morales was born a member of the indigenous Mayan community in Guatemala. Administrative Record (“A.R.”) at 436, 441 (I-589 at 1, 6). In June 2015, Morales-Morales left Guatemala with her son and traveled to the United States. Id. at 439 (I-589 at 4). The two were detained by immigration authorities in Hidalgo, Texas the following month and placed in removal proceedings. Id. at 561 (Notice to Appear at 1). See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Morales-Morales conceded before the immigration judge (“IJ”) that she had entered the country unlawfully, but moved for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) on the basis that she had been persecuted because of her race and her membership in several particular social groups.2 A.R. at 124 (09/01/2015 Hr’g Tr. at 3); id. at 440 (I-589 at 5). The IJ held a hearing in March 2019 to address Morales-Morales’s application for relief from removal. Id. at 161 (03/12/2019 Hr’g Tr. at 35). At the hearing, Morales-Morales claimed that she had been persecuted in Guatemala because of her indigenous race and her membership in four particular social groups: (1) indigenous Guatemalan women living in Guatemala’s western highlands; (2) indigenous Guatemalan women who cannot leave a relationship; (3) unmarried indigenous Guatemalan women with children not living with the father of their children; and (4) indigenous Guatemalan women. Id. at 492 (Pet’r Pre-Hearing Brief at 3); id. at 167–68 (03/12/2019 Hr’g Tr. at 41–42). The IJ received …
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