NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 22a0235n.06 No. 21-3905 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED ) Jun 13, 2022 PETRONA FRANCISCO-PASQUAL, DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ) ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION General, ) APPEALS Respondent. ) ) OPINION ) Before: WHITE, BUSH, and READLER, Circuit Judges. JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. Petrona Francisco-Pasqual applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief. She believed that attacks she suffered at the hands of a man in her native Guatemala sufficed to meet her necessary burdens for all three forms of relief. But the Immigration Judge (IJ) denied each of her applications. So she appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), challenging only the IJ’s denial of her applications for asylum and withholding of removal. The BIA dismissed her appeal. She now petitions us for review of the BIA’s decision. While Francisco-Pasqual alleges that she was a victim of serious crime in Guatemala, substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusions. We therefore deny the requested relief. I. Francisco-Pasqual is a native and citizen of Guatemala. She is fluent only in Acateco, an indigenous language that is not widely spoken throughout Guatemala and is common only near No. 21-3905, Francisco-Pasqual v. Garland her home region of Huehuetenango. She does not speak English or Spanish well. Most of her family remains in Huehuetenango, and she has six children with a man she considers her husband. Francisco-Pasqual came to the United States in 2014. Shortly after her arrival, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice to Appear charging her as removable for illegally entering the country. She admitted to the allegations in the Notice to Appear and conceded removability. She then applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture relief. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158, 1231(b)(3). Through an interpreter, Francisco-Pasqual gave oral testimony in front of the IJ to bolster her application. She fled to the United States, she claims, because she fears a man from her home village named Juan Francisco. She believes that Juan Francisco is of her same ethnicity, and he is the only person in Guatemala she fears. Juan Francisco allegedly has twice attacked Francisco- Pasqual in her home. In May 2014, Francisco-Pasqual claims, Juan Francisco attempted to rape her in her home. But he left after she fought him off. Her local police station was at least an hour’s walk away, and Francisco-Pasqual implied that, as a woman, she did not feel safe walking there. So she did not file a police report. Francisco-Pasqual testified that Juan Francisco next attacked her in June 2014. He attempted to rape her and hit her in the face, but she again managed to escape. This time, she filed a police report. Police arrested Juan Francisco but only held him in jail for a few hours. So, once released, he threatened to kill her. …
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