NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 18a0362n.06 No. 17-3041 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED MERLENI MARTINEZ-MARTINEZ, and ATHAN ) Jul 24, 2018 SAMUEL ESPINOZA-MARTINEZ, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioners, ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) OF AN ORDER OF THE v. ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION ) APPEALS JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, Attorney General, ) ) Respondent. ) ) BEFORE: MERRITT, WHITE and DONALD, Circuit Judges. WHITE, Circuit Judge. Petitioners, Merleni Martinez-Martinez and her minor son Athan Samuels Espinoza-Martinez, citizens of Honduras, seek review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order dismissing their appeal of an immigration judge’s decision denying Martinez-Martinez’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Petitioners argue that the BIA erred in finding (1) no requisite nexus between Martinez-Martinez’s membership in a particular social group and any past or future harm, and (2) that Petitioners were able to safely relocate within Honduras. We disagree and DENY the petition for review. I. Background Petitioners entered the United States without inspection on or about June 23, 2014. On June 25, 2014, the Department of Homeland Security initiated proceedings against Petitioners by issuing Notices to Appear that charged them with removability as aliens present in the United No. 17-3041 Martinez-Martinez v. Sessions States without being admitted or paroled, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 212(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) (2012). At a June 9, 2015, hearing held before the immigration judge (“IJ”), Martinez-Martinez conceded that she and her son were present in the United States without permission, and the IJ found them removable. On July 7, 2015, through counsel, Martinez-Martinez filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection, with her son as a derivative beneficiary. [Martinez- Martinez’s claim for relief was predicated on past harm and fear of future harm by her husband in Honduras. In explaining her past experiences and fear of future harm in her written application, Martinez-Martinez highlighted her husband’s involvement with drug traffickers: My husband [] worked with narcotic traffickers in Honduras. After the birth of our son in 2009, he began to pressure me to also work with the traffickers. When I refused, he began to beat me and on more than one occasion he threatened to kill me. When I tried to leave him and go to stay with other family members, he said he and his gang would find me in Honduras and he would kill me and our son Athan. [PID 340]. A. Proceedings Before the Immigration Judge On March 23, 2016, the IJ held a hearing on the applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection. Martinez-Martinez testified that before coming to the United States she lived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with her husband and their four children. She testified that she left Honduras because of her husband’s abuse and threats of violence; that her husband had been physically and verbally abusive to her through much of their ...
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