USCA11 Case: 20-12680 Date Filed: 07/16/2021 Page: 1 of 14 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 20-12680 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A202-027-757 MARIA JOSE ENRIQUEZ-CORTEZ, CAMILLA ALEJANDRA HENRIQUEZ-HENRIQUEZ, Petitioners, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (July 16, 2021) Before WILSON, ROSENBAUM, and LUCK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 20-12680 Date Filed: 07/16/2021 Page: 2 of 14 Maria Jose Henriquez-Cortez1 and her daughter,2 natives and citizens of Honduras, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s decision dismissing Henriquez-Cortez’s appeal of the immigration judge’s denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. First, Henriquez-Cortez argues that defects in her notice to appear deprived the board of jurisdiction over her immigration proceedings. Second, she contends that the board erred by dismissing her appeal of the denial of her applications for relief. Finally, Henriquez-Cortez maintains that the board’s “order” of a civil monetary penalty for each day that she fails to depart from the United States violates the Eighth Amendment. After careful review, we deny her petition as to her asylum, withholding of removal, Convention Against Torture, and jurisdictional claims and dismiss her petition as to the Eighth Amendment claim. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On June 30, 2013, as Henriquez-Cortez drove away from her family’s home, she was followed by two gang members, Ivan Sarmiento and his son, Ulisses. They quickly stopped her. Upon discovering she was alone, they doubled back to the house where they found her brothers, Alan and Hector. Hector later told Henriquez- 1 Although the parties (at times) refer to the petitioner as Maria Jose “Enriquez-Cortez,” the administrative record—including the application for asylum—uses the spelling “Henriquez- Cortez.” We will use the spelling from the record. 2 Because Henriquez-Cortez’s daughter hasn’t asserted her own claims, her eligibility turns on Henriquez-Cortez’s asylum claim. So, we refer to Henriquez-Cortez and her daughter as a single petitioner. 2 USCA11 Case: 20-12680 Date Filed: 07/16/2021 Page: 3 of 14 Cortez that he and an unidentified man witnessed the Sarmientos hit Alan over the head with a pistol and kidnap him. Alan later turned up dead—tortured, strangled, and shot. Henriquez-Cortez reported the crime to the police but “when the officials found out who the perpetrators were, they lost interest in the case” and instead “suggested [Henriquez-Cortez] leave the country.” After Alan’s death, Henriquez-Cortez went into hiding, first to her in-laws, then to her grandparents’ village, and finally to the capital city of Tegucigalpa. She testified that, while in the village and in the capital, she received threats directed at her and her brothers. Henriquez-Cortez said that “[a]fter Alan’s burial, our family was called several times by drug dealers . . . threatening to kill us once they found us.” After a year, she concluded that nowhere in Honduras would be safe and departed for the United States in June 2014. …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals