UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 20-2124 RICCY MABEL FUNEZ-MUNGUIA; A.I.F., Petitioners, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: October 27, 2021 Decided: November 23, 2021 Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and WYNN and HARRIS, Circuit Judges. Petition for review granted; vacated and remanded by unpublished opinion. Judge Harris wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge Gregory and Judge Wynn joined. ARGUED: Bradley Bruce Banias, WASDEN BANIAS LLC, Charleston, South Carolina, for Petitioners. Robert Dale Tennyson, Jr., UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Brian Boynton, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Nancy E. Friedman, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PAMELA HARRIS, Circuit Judge: Riccy Mabel Funez-Munguia (“Funez”) came to the United States from Honduras after she was threatened by a gang member who lived in her apartment building. According to Funez, the gang member persecuted her on account of her familial relationship with the apartment manager, worried that she would use her influence with the manager to have him evicted. An Immigration Judge denied relief from removal and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed, holding that there was no “nexus” between Funez’s family relationship and the threats against her. Because the agency incorrectly applied the statutory nexus standard, we grant the petition for review, vacate the agency’s decision, and remand for further proceedings. I. In April 2016, Funez entered the United States with her minor daughter. After the government placed the two in removal proceedings, Funez applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). 1 A. The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) deemed credible Funez’s account of the events that led to her flight from Honduras, and we begin with a summary of that account. Early in 1 Funez’s daughter, A.I.F., also appears as a petitioner, but is eligible for relief only as a derivative applicant, or rider, on Funez’s application. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(3)(A); 8 C.F.R. § 208.21(a). Because Funez is the lead applicant, our opinion focuses on her claims. See Perez Vasquez v. Garland, 4 F.4th 213, 218 n.1 (4th Cir. 2021). 2 2015, Funez moved into an apartment building in the Serrito Lindo neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She then learned that her cousin’s husband, Anibal Alvarenga, once had owned the building and continued to be “in charge of the apartments,” collecting rent and managing it for a new owner who lived in the United States. A.R. 388. Funez believed that other tenants in the building knew of this relationship because her daughter publicly greeted Funez’s cousin as “Aunt.” A.R. 389; see also A.R. 185 (cousin stating that Funez was “like another sister” to her). In June 2015, a gang member named Oscar, who had lived in the building until his arrest earlier that year, was released from …
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