United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 17-1285 BLANCA LIDIA MARTÍNEZ-PÉREZ, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Thompson, Selya, and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Carlos E. Estrada, Ashley M. Edens and Estrada Law Office, on brief for petitioner. Michael C. Heyse, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and May Jane Candaux, Assistant Director, on brief for respondent. July 24, 2018 THOMPSON, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Blanca Lidia Martínez-Pérez (Martínez-Pérez) seeks judicial review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming the denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Martínez-Pérez argues that the BIA erred by affirming the Immigration Judge's (IJ) conclusion that she did not qualify for asylum, withholding of removal, or any other basis for relief based on her mistreatment in Honduras because of her Afro-Honduran race and physical disability caused by polio, and furthermore that the IJ violated her due process rights. Before looking at the challenges Martínez-Pérez has raised here, we will run through the circumstances of Martínez-Pérez's journey to the United States, her life in Honduras and the circumstances that led her to come to the United States, and the prior proceedings that brought her before this court.1 A. BACKGROUND 1. Facts and Circumstances Martínez-Pérez was born in 1976 in Honduras. By the age of one she was diagnosed with polio, after which her mother gave Martínez-Pérez to her uncle, who in turn left her at an orphanage 1These facts are drawn from the administrative record, including Martínez-Pérez's hearing testimony, which the IJ found credible. - 2 - in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Because of her childhood polio, Martínez-Pérez walks with a limp. She was harassed by staff and other children in the orphanage throughout her entire childhood, and was sometimes called names relating to her disability. She dropped out of school after the sixth grade. Martínez-Pérez ultimately left the orphanage at age eighteen and moved to a town called Sambo Creek, about six hours north of Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa and Sambo Creek are the only two places Martínez-Pérez lived in Honduras. As an adult, Martínez-Pérez continued to experience general mistreatment based on her disability and race. She recalled being verbally harassed by strangers on the street. She also had difficulty finding a job, and supported herself by working as a babysitter for a friend. After three incidents in 2014 in which she heard someone threaten her life, had a bottle thrown at her, and survived a home invasion, all of which we'll get to later, Martínez-Pérez decided to leave Honduras and travel to the United States. Martínez-Pérez entered the United States on foot, having broken her foot in transit, near Brownsville, Texas, on or about June 7, 2014. While in custody, she received medical attention ...
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