PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 20-1849 VERONICA TOLEDO-VASQUEZ, Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: December 7, 2021 Decided: March 2, 2022 Before DIAZ and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge. Petition for review denied by published opinion. Judge Quattlebaum wrote the opinion, in which Judge Diaz and Senior Judge Traxler joined. ARGUED: Devon R. Senges, DUMMIT FRADIN, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Petitioner. Jessica Eden Burns, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Keith I. McManus, Assistant Director, Edward C. Durant, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judge: Veronica Toledo-Vasquez petitions this Court to review an order from the Board of Immigration Appeals denying her application for asylum. The Board found that Veronica had not shown she was persecuted on account of her membership in her alleged particular social group, “family members of Guisela Toledo-Vasquez.” Despite the tragic circumstances that caused Veronica to flee Mexico, substantial evidence supports the Board’s conclusion that she was not persecuted on account of her family relationship with Guisela. Thus, we deny her petition for review. I. A. Veronica, a citizen of Mexico, first came to the United States in 2002. While in the United States, she and her husband Francisco had three children. They occasionally visited Mexico, and when they did, they witnessed Rogelio Witrago abuse his wife, Guisela Toledo-Vasquez, who was also Veronica’s sister. In 2013, Veronica and Francisco returned to Mexico to open a meat market. Shortly after their return, Guisela separated from Rogelio. Rogelio responded maliciously. He took their children and hid them from Guisela. After Veronica and Guisela reported Rogelio to the police, the authorities confronted Rogelio about the children but were unable to secure the children’s return to Guisela. Guisela and Rogelio later reconciled for a short period of time. Despite that, Rogelio continued to beat her. One night after he had done so, Guisela called Veronica, asking for 2 her help. Veronica went with Francisco to Guisela’s home. As Guisela and her kids entered Veronica’s car, Rogelio screamed “[g]et the f[***] out and don’t ever come back.” A.R. 456–57. But then Rogelio pursued them. He intercepted Veronica’s car and told Guisela to return home with the children or else she would make “things worse.” A.R. 457. Veronica tried to stop Rogelio. She told him to leave her sister alone and that Guisela would not be going with him. Rogelio responded, “[y]ou better not get involved. You’ll be better off not saying s[***] to me.” A.R. 457. Fearing something worse could happen, Guisela returned with Rogelio. Months later, Veronica, Guisela and their other sister Angelica attended a religious festival with their families. There, they encountered Rogelio, who was “very drunk.” A.R. 457. He yelled “[y]ou didn’t want to hang with us, go f[***] yourselves. …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals