FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT January 28, 2020 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court DORIS ABIGAIL MARTINEZ- MENDOZA, Petitioner, v. No. 19-9506 (Petition for Review) WILLIAM P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before PHILLIPS, McHUGH, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Doris Abigail Martinez-Mendoza, a native of El Salvador, petitions for review of an order by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming a decision by the Immigration Judge (IJ) denying relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Exercising jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), we grant the petition and remand the matter to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. BACKGROUND In November 2012, ten-year-old Abigail left El Salvador with her seventeen-year-old sister, Katherine, and traveled to the United States, seeking to join their parents, who lived in Utah and had come to the United States illegally several years beforehand. After being apprehended and placed in removal proceedings, both sisters applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the CAT. Nearly five years later, on September 14, 2017, the sisters’ claims were heard before an IJ. Although the cases initially were consolidated, the IJ administratively closed Katherine’s case and severed it from Abigail’s after their counsel submitted evidence that Katherine had married a United States citizen and had initiated proceedings to obtain adjusted status based on the marriage. The hearing, therefore, proceeded solely as to Abigail, though Katherine provided the majority of the testimony. Katherine testified that their mother left El Salvador for the United States in 2006 and that their father did the same in 2008. She and Abigail continued to live in El Salvador, residing alone in their parents’ home. Several months later, however, the girls returned home from school and found the residence ransacked and many of their belongings stolen. The police responded but did not find the perpetrators. Believing it was no longer safe to live alone, Katherine and Abigail moved in with their aunt, who lived nearby. Shortly thereafter, their uncle, who lived next door and was a father figure for the girls, was shot and killed outside his home. The 2 police, who did not have a station in that city, took about one hour to arrive, did not question Katherine, and were unsuccessful in solving the murder. Katherine believed gang members orchestrated the murder because their uncle had confronted a local gang member ...
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