United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 16-3903 ___________________________ Jose Noel Romero-Larin lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner v. Jefferson B. Sessions, III, Attorney General of the United States lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent ___________________________ No. 17-1868 ___________________________ Jose Noel Romero-Larin lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner v. Jefferson B. Sessions, III, Attorney General of the United States lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: October 19, 2017 Filed: May 8, 2018 [Unpublished] ____________ Before GRUENDER and BENTON, Circuit Judges, and TUNHEIM, District Judge.1 ____________ PER CURIAM. Jose Noel Romero-Larin, a native and citizen of El Salvador, entered the United States on June 23, 2010. On June 28, 2010, he was apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security, which later initiated removal proceedings pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). Romero-Larin eventually filed an application seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). In February 2015, Romero-Larin testified before an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) regarding his fear of returning to El Salvador. He explained his role in the Coordinating Committee of Churches (“CCC”) of San Martin and discussed the close relationship between CCC and a prominent political party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (“FMLN”). The municipality of San Martin created CCC in 2007, when FMLN was in power, and proceeded to fund and support some activities sponsored by CCC. Romero-Larin began working with CCC at its inception. CCC is perceived to be “red”; that is, supportive of FMLN. The right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (“ARENA”) is thought to be unsupportive of CCC’s association with FMLN. 1 The Honorable John R. Tunheim, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, sitting by designation. -2- Romero-Larin also testified about death threats he received in 2007 and 2010, which ultimately prompted his flight to the United States. In late 2007, he received a phone call telling him “to stop doing or interfering into the politics” and threatening that, if he continued, “very bad things” would follow. He received a similar call two weeks later but “did not give any importance” to either call because he did not consider himself to be involved in anything political. Romero-Larin did not receive any more threats until early 2010, when he was approached by a young man whom he recognized as a member of the gang Mara-18. The man told Romero-Larin that “some politician paid . . . the Mara-18 to kill [him] because [he] was getting involved in politics for this political party.” Romero-Larin suspected the order came from a politician belonging to the ARENA party. After the gang member’s threat, Romero- Larin’s cousin, also a member of the Mara-18, told Romero-Larin’s mother that Romero-Larin should leave because there was an order for him to be killed. Romero- Larin claims he did not report the threats because he knew of people being killed for doing so. He came to the United States soon after learning of his cousin’s warning. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the IJ found Romero-Larin’s testimony credible but ...
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