Case: 18-12964 Date Filed: 05/13/2019 Page: 1 of 6 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-12964 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A206-373-004 JEFFRY XAVIER MOLINA-SALAZAR, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (May 13, 2019) Before MARTIN, NEWSOM and HULL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Jeffry Xavier Molina-Salazar, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying his Case: 18-12964 Date Filed: 05/13/2019 Page: 2 of 6 application for asylum. After careful review, we dismiss the petition in part and deny it in part. In Honduras, the Maras gang targeted Molina-Salazar for recruitment. Gang members threatened to harm or kill him if he refused to join. On one occasion, gang members assaulted him, causing his face to swell up. Fearful of further harm, Molina-Salazar fled to the United States and applied for asylum. 1 To qualify for asylum, an applicant must show “(1) past persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; or (2) a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of” one of the protected grounds. Chen v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 463 F.3d 1228, 1231 (11th Cir. 2006) (per curiam). To meet this standard, an applicant must show he was persecuted based on one of the protected grounds. Rodriguez Morales v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 488 F.3d 884, 890 (11th Cir. 2007) (per curiam). In his application, Molina-Salazar said that the Maras gang’s recruitment efforts amounted to persecution on account of his membership in a particular social group, namely, students who oppose gang conscription. The Immigration Judge (IJ) determined that Molina-Salazar did not qualify for asylum. One reason for denying the application was the IJ’s conclusion that 1 Molina-Salazar also applied for withholding of removal, and the BIA denied the application. Molina-Salazar does not appeal that denial. 2 Case: 18-12964 Date Filed: 05/13/2019 Page: 3 of 6 Molina-Salazar had not shown persecution on account of his proposed particular social group. The IJ said it “seems apparent” Molina-Salazar “was targeted on account of his youth, and that whether he was attending school or not, persons similarly situated would be targeted for recruitment.” Molina-Salazar appealed to the BIA, arguing that his youth should qualify him as a member of a particular social group, namely, young people targeted by gangs. He did not renew his argument that his status as a student made him a member of a particular social group. Neither did he argue that his status as a student motivated the gang’s recruitment efforts. The BIA affirmed, concluding Molina-Salazar offered no evidence that he was targeted for recruitment because he was a student. Based on its binding precedent, the BIA implicitly rejected his argument that his youth made him a member of a particular social group. See Matter of S-E-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 579, 588 (BIA 2008) ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals