Case: 18-12298 Date Filed: 06/28/2019 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-12298 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A209-909-826 MONICA CASSIS VELANDO, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (June 28, 2019) Before TJOFLAT, JORDAN, and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Monica Cassis Velando petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) final order affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her Case: 18-12298 Date Filed: 06/28/2019 Page: 2 of 10 application for asylum and withholding of removal. The BIA concluded that Cassis Velando was not eligible for asylum or withholding because she was not a member of a “particular social group” within the meaning of that phrase in the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). After careful review, we deny the petition. I. Cassis Velando is a native and citizen of Bolivia who was admitted to the United States in November 2015 with permission to remain until May 2016. She remained in the United States without authorization after that date, however, prompting the government to initiate removal proceedings in February 2017. In response, Cassis Velando applied for asylum and withholding of removal.1 She claimed that she had suffered past persecution and would suffer future persecution on account of her membership in a “particular social group.” The record demonstrates the following basis for her application. Cassis Velando was a physical therapist and teacher in Bolivia who, due to deteriorating financial conditions, decided to borrow money to invest in a venture proposed by a friend from high school. Excited by the friend’s promises and bolstered by her early returns, she encouraged her friends and family to invest money into the venture. They did so. But it turned out that her friend was running a fraud. All the money 1 Cassis Velando also applied for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). She does not address the denial of CAT relief on appeal, though, so we omit further discussion of this matter. 2 Case: 18-12298 Date Filed: 06/28/2019 Page: 3 of 10 was lost. After speaking with the other victims, Cassis Velando decided to file a complaint with the police. When she attempted to do so, however, a police officer demanded a bribe to investigate the case and threatened to accuse her of the fraud if she did not pay. The other victims were initially supportive of Cassis Velando after the fraud was discovered. But as time went by, they began to turn on her and hold her responsible for their losses. She began receiving threatening phone calls and insults, which occurred nearly daily from March 2015 until she left for the United States in November 2015. Some of the victims warned her that if she did not return their money they would harm her and her children. One of the victims spoke on television about her involvement in the scheme, denouncing and ...
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