NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 19-1374 RUDIS ERNESTO GUTIERREZ-MOLINA, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent On Petition for Review of a Final Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Immigration Judge: Honorable Kuyomars Q. Golparvar (No. A095-487-691) Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) September 25, 2019 Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, McKEE, AMBRO, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: September 26, 2019) OPINION * AMBRO, Circuit Judge * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Petitioner Rudis Ernesto Gutierrez-Molina seeks to defer his removal from the United States. He is a former member of the MS-13 gang who was convicted in the United States of racketeering conspiracy to commit murder. While serving his prison sentence, he converted to Christianity and renounced his gang affiliation. He does not contest his removability nor that he has committed a crime of involving moral turpitude. He seeks deferral under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”), claiming that he will be tortured and murdered if he is removed to El Salvador. The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denied Gutierrez-Molina’s application, concluding that he is not likely to be harmed if he is removed, and the BIA affirmed. He filed with us a petition for review. I. Facts and Procedural History A. Background Gutierrez-Molina came to the United States with his mother and father in 2002 when he was 10 years old. At approximately 14, he was recruited to join MS-13. He now has a 10-year old daughter who is an American citizen. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) initially began consolidated proceedings against Gutierrez-Molina and his mother in 2002. DHS charged him with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) as an alien present in the United States without permission or parole. Following reopening after an in absentia order of removal in 2011, his mother conceded removability on his behalf. She sought for her and her son asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection based on the threat of abuse in El Salvador by his father. 2 In June 2016, Gutierrez-Molina, then 24, pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy to commit murder, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(d) and 1963. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison, where, as noted, he converted to Christianity and renounced his allegiance to MS-13. Following his conviction, Gutierrez-Molina’s proceedings were severed from his mother’s and administrative closure was granted until such time as he was returned to DHS custody. It moved to re-calendar the proceedings in April 2018 and then additionally charged him with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) as an alien convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. B. Removal proceedings before the Immigration Judge The IJ found Gutierrez-Molina to be credible but ultimately denied his application for deferral of removal under the CAT. He noted that Gutierrez-Molina has not been back to El Salvador since 2002. Though gang activity remains a problem there, along with government corruption, the IJ ...
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