USCA4 Appeal: 20-2279 Doc: 53 Filed: 01/05/2023 Pg: 1 of 11 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 20-2279 MARIA IDALIA GONZALEZ-LEMUS; N.M.H.G., Petitioners, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: December 9, 2022 Decided: January 5, 2023 Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and THACKER and RUSHING, Circuit Judges. Petition for review dismissed in part, denied in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. ARGUED: Melody Busey, DEVINE & BEARD LAW OFFICE, Charleston, South Carolina, for Petitioners. Arthur Leonid Rabin, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Mark Devine, DEVINE & BEARD LAW OFFICE, Charleston, South Carolina, for Petitioners. Brian Boynton, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Stephen J. Flynn, Assistant Director, Anna Juarez, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 20-2279 Doc: 53 Filed: 01/05/2023 Pg: 2 of 11 PER CURIAM: Maria Idalia Gonzalez-Lemus (“Gonzalez-Lemus”) and her daughter, N.M.H.G., 1 (collectively, “Petitioners”) seek review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”) denying their requests for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief pursuant to the Convention Against Torture (the “CAT”). Additionally, N.M.H.G. seeks review of the BIA’s denial of her motion to remand based on her eligibility for special immigrant juvenile (“SIJ”) status. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland (“Respondent”) has moved to dismiss the petition for review as it relates to Petitioners’ claims for asylum and withholding of removal because the immigration judge (“IJ”) denied relief on those claims due to Petitioners’ failure to corroborate Gonzalez-Lemus’s allegations of rape, and Petitioners did not challenge the IJ’s corroboration determination in their appeal to the BIA. Respondent further requests that the remainder of the petition for review be summarily denied. We agree with Respondent that we lack jurisdiction to consider Petitioners’ arguments as to the IJ’s corroboration determination. Accordingly, we grant Respondent’s motion to dismiss the petition for review with respect to those arguments. And because the IJ’s corroboration determination was an independent basis for the IJ’s denial of asylum and withholding of removal, we deny the petition for review as to those forms of relief. We likewise deny the petition for review as to Gonzalez-Lemus’s claims for CAT relief 1 Because N.M.H.G. is a minor, we refer to her by her initials in this opinion. 2 USCA4 Appeal: 20-2279 Doc: 53 Filed: 01/05/2023 Pg: 3 of 11 and N.M.H.G.’s motion to remand, but we deny as moot Respondent’s request for summary disposition of those arguments. I. A. Petitioners are natives and citizens of El Salvador. In June 2015, Gonzalez-Lemus was working at her sister’s restaurant, which was located next door to Gonzalez-Lemus’s home. Shortly after leaving the restaurant for the day, Gonzalez-Lemus was entering her home when she was approached by three gang members requesting that she pay “rent” for the restaurant. When Gonzalez-Lemus told the men …
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