In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-3516 JOSE EDIN PINEDA-TERUEL, Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ____________________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A209-451-083 ____________________ ARGUED SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 — DECIDED OCTOBER 27, 2021 ____________________ Before EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and KIRSCH, Circuit Judges. KIRSCH, Circuit Judge. Jose Edin Pineda-Teruel illegally en- tered the United States in 2007. He was removed to Honduras in 2017. In 2019, he again attempted to enter the United States but was apprehended at the border. Facing enforcement of the prior removal order, Pineda-Teruel filed an application seek- ing withholding of removal under the Immigration and Na- tionality Act and protection under the Convention Against 2 No. 20-3516 Torture, claiming that he was the target of an extortion scheme in Honduras and risked death if he returned. Both an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals found that Pineda-Teruel failed to establish eligibility for withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nation- ality Act or protection under the Convention Against Torture. We find no error and therefore deny Pineda-Teruel’s applica- tion. I Pineda-Teruel is a citizen and native of Honduras, where he owns a coffee farm. He first entered the United States in 2007 and was removed to Honduras ten years later, on June 14, 2017, pursuant to an order of removal. He subsequently reentered the United States in May 2019 and was appre- hended at the border. Pineda-Teruel applied for withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A), and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.16–1208.18. On November 27, 2019, Pineda-Teruel appeared pro se be- fore an immigration judge (IJ) for a hearing to determine the merits of his application. Pineda-Teruel testified that he began to experience problems in Honduras upon his return to the country in June 2017. He did not testify about any targeted threats in Honduras prior to his return from the United States. Pineda-Teruel testified that in August 2017 three men af- filiated with the mafia but acting as police officers (dressed in police uniforms and driving a police vehicle) robbed him and demanded future monthly payments because he had just re- turned from the United States. He testified that because of his stay in the United States the mafia believed that he had No. 20-3516 3 money: “What they said was, you just came back to [sic] the United States, so you have a little bit of money. So, you have to give it to us or else we’ll kill you. They think you have money.” Admin R. 114–15. Prior to his testimony before the IJ, Pineda-Teruel told an Immigration and Naturalization Ser- vice Asylum Officer the same thing: “They do this with eve- ryone that comes from the US they think we have money that’s why they’re doing it because they think I have money because I came …
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