In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-2148 KARLA ELIZABETH GRANADOS ARIAS, 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. A206-624-591 ____________________ ARGUED MARCH 29, 2023 — DECIDED MAY 31, 2023 ____________________ Before SYKES, Chief Judge, and ROVNER and BRENNAN, Cir- cuit Judges. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. El Salvador citizen Karla Elizabeth Granados Arias petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals denying her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Conven- tion Against Torture. We hold that substantial evidence sup- ports the Board’s decision and deny the petition. 2 No. 22-2148 I. Background A. Factual Granados Arias and her sister, Maria, sold tortillas from a rented space in their mother’s home in El Salvador beginning in October 2013. The business was successful, and a few months after it opened, a note was slipped under their door. The note demanded they pay $50 per week and send with the payment a piece of intimate clothing. The author of the note threatened death if the police were contacted. Granados Arias recognized the handwriting on the note as belonging to a for- mer classmate who she knew was a member of the Mara 18 gang. A friend of Granados Arias, Karina, who had owned a clothing business, received a similar note two weeks earlier, which she reported to the police. Karina later received a sec- ond note threatening death if she did not withdraw her com- plaint. She complied. One month later, her son was killed. Karina told Granados Arias that the Mara 18 had killed her son because of the complaint. Granados Arias and Maria paid the extortion demand for one week but did not leave clothing with the payment. Unable to afford payments and afraid of the gang, they ultimately closed their business. Because of the note, Granados Arias left El Salvador and illegally entered the United States in March 2014. Maria re- mained in El Salvador but moved to their grandmother’s home an hour away, living there for about six months without incident. Maria and Granados Arias’s mother now live in a different home, five houses away from where the tortilla busi- ness was located. Maria does not work or leave the home. No. 22-2148 3 Granados Arias’s son only leaves the home to attend school, and he is driven to and from school to avoid gangs. Neither Granados Arias nor her family members have been threat- ened or harmed since the sisters received the note. B. Procedural After a hearing, an immigration judge (IJ) denied Grana- dos Arias’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The IJ found her credible but deemed her ineligible for asy- lum. The isolated threat she had received did not rise to the level of past persecution. Granados Arias also failed to estab- lish a well-founded …
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