In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-2088 JAVIER DIAZ MEJIA, Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A099-025-650 ____________________ ARGUED SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 — DECIDED JULY 27, 2023 ____________________ Before WOOD, SCUDDER, and JACKSON-AKIWUMI, Circuit Judges. JACKSON-AKIWUMI, Circuit Judge. Javier Diaz Mejia is a Mexican national challenging the denial of withholding of re- moval under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Diaz Mejia fears that a gang in Mexico City will target him if he returns to Mexico. 2 No. 21-2088 The Immigration Judge found Diaz Mejia’s testimony and documentation credible, but denied relief on five grounds, two of which are important to this petition for review. First, the IJ concluded the gang’s prior attacks on Diaz Mejia, which resulted in only minor injuries, were not severe enough to count as persecution under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3). Second, the IJ found that, regardless of any other argument Diaz Mejia might raise, his claims for relief failed because he could avoid the gang by relocating within Mexico. The BIA agreed with both conclusions. Unfortunately for Diaz Mejia, the BIA’s two determina- tions are dispositive, particularly because Diaz Mejia’s coun- sel failed to challenge the relocation issue before the BIA or us. I Diaz Mejia, a Mexican national, reentered the United States after being removed from the country at least twice be- fore. In August 2020, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated its prior removal orders and initiated another re- moval proceeding. Diaz Mejia sought withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) and protection under the Conven- tion Against Torture. He claimed that if returned to Mexico, he would face violence from the Union of Tepito, a criminal organization he had been coerced into assisting. The gang ap- proached Diaz Mejia while he was selling religious keychains around Mexico City and demanded that he use his business travel as a front to transport the gang’s drugs. When Diaz Mejia initially refused, the gang beat him and mocked his re- ligion. Diaz Mejia stated that police officers were nearby when the beating occurred and ignored it, but he could not say whether they saw it. No. 21-2088 3 Diaz Mejia agreed to help the gang but, after a few drug deliveries, he quit and relocated his business to a different area on the outskirts of Mexico City. The gang nonetheless found and attacked him again, this time hitting his head with a gun and threatening to kill him. Diaz Mejia eventually fled to the United States. He testified that he believed he could not go elsewhere in Mexico because he did not know if other gangs were affiliated with the Union of Tepito. He also feared people in other regions would discriminate against his Mex- ico City accent. The IJ found Diaz Mejia credible but denied withholding of removal on several …
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