NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ____________ No. 20-1559 ____________ MIGUEL EDUARDO PAZ HERNANDEZ, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ____________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A037-283-665) Immigration Judge: Charles Conroy ____________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) April 16, 2021 ____________ Before: CHAGARES, JORDAN, and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges (Filed: May 3, 2021) ____________ OPINION * ____________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and, pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7, does not constitute binding precedent. CHAGARES, Circuit Judge. Miguel Eduardo Paz Hernandez 1 petitions this Court to review a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”) dismissing his appeal of the decision of an Immigration Judge (the “IJ,” and together with the BIA, the “agency”) denying Paz deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We will deny the petition. I. Paz, a citizen of Guatemala, arrived in the United States as a lawful permanent resident in July 1981, a few days shy of his sixth birthday. Paz grew up in Washington Heights, New York, and was a member of a “Dominican gang.” Admin. Rec. (“A.R.”) 157. In 1993, Paz was convicted in New York state court of second-degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years to life. Around the same time, Paz learned he was epileptic after having his first seizure. Paz married in 1998; his wife is a nurse practitioner and helps treat Paz’s epilepsy. After his parole in January 2015, Paz eventually obtained employment as a desktop technician for Bloomberg. On November 9, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued a Notice to Appear charging Paz with being removable due to his murder conviction. Paz was taken into custody and detained at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. Through counsel, Paz conceded removability and sought deferral of removal 1 The parties’ briefs refer to the petitioner by the surname Paz and we will do the same. 2 under the CAT. The IJ scheduled a hearing on Paz’s application for relief for July 29, 2019 and ordered DHS to produce Paz for that hearing in person. On the day of the hearing, Paz was not produced but instead appeared remotely from the Bergen County Jail. 2 From that facility, Paz testified that he was afraid to return to Guatemala in part due to the prevalence of gangs and his prior gang affiliation. He explained that while incarcerated, “individuals from Central America, including Guatemala” picked fights with him and called him a “sell out” because he had been in a Dominican gang and not “a gang from Guatemala or from Central America.” A.R. 157, 166. Some of these individuals “were . . . sent back” to their countries of origin. A.R. 166. Paz expressed a fear of being recognized by his former antagonists and targeted as a result of his past affiliation, as well as a fear that a gang might …
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