In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 14-3754 JESUS ANTONIO CRUZ-MARTINEZ, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ____________________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A078-867-386 ____________________ ARGUED FEBRUARY 8, 2018 — DECIDED MARCH 14, 2018 ____________________ Before FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and MANION, Circuit Judges. MANION, Circuit Judge. Jesus Antonio Cruz-Martinez pe- titions this Court to review the decision of the Board of Immi- gration Appeals (Board) affirming the decision of the Immi- gration Judge (IJ). Cruz-Martinez argues on appeal that the Board erred by failing to consider his asylum claim and the reinstatement of his prior order of removal, denying him withholding of removal and protection under the Convention 2 No. 14-3754 Against Torture (CAT), and violating his right to due process by refusing to remand his case to the IJ for consideration of new evidence. We conclude his challenges are meritless and deny the petition for review. I. Background A citizen of Mexico who was born in 1977, Cruz-Martinez first came to the United States from Mexico illegally in 1993. He was removed to his home country in 2002 under a signed, stipulated removal order dated October 22, 2002. This re- moval order is captioned “In the Matter of: Rocha-Martinez, Jose,” which is an alias that Cruz-Martinez has used. Cruz-Martinez states that in 2005 two armed men who had previously fought with his brothers threatened him at his mother’s home in Mexico while they were looking for one of his brothers. His mother contacted the local police about the threat to Cruz-Martinez, but the police did nothing. Accord- ing to Cruz-Martinez, the local police did nothing because the armed men had paid them off. Two months following this in- cident, Cruz-Martinez returned to the United States without permission. While in the United States a second time, Cruz-Martinez acquired various criminal convictions including convictions for aggravated assault, possession of cocaine, and obstructing police. Cruz-Martinez also married a United States citizen with whom he has a child. He is also a step-father to her three other children. Additionally, since Cruz-Martinez returned to the United States in 2005, all of his siblings and his mother have come to reside in the United States. Some of his family members, including his mother, have gone back and forth to No. 14-3754 3 Mexico without incident, and none of his family members have sought protection from persecution. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated the 2002 removal order. Expressing fear of being returned to Mexico, Cruz-Martinez was interviewed by the Asylum Of- fice in Chicago, which made a positive reasonable-fear deter- mination. Cruz-Martinez then applied for protection from persecution with the Immigration Court. Before the IJ, Cruz- Martinez testified that he is afraid that if he returns to Mexico, he will be kidnapped, subjected to extortion, tortured, and killed. He cites a fear of the two armed men who attacked him, as well as ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals