United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 20-2248 ___________________________ Yeemy Guatemala-Pineda lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner v. Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General of the United States1 lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: February 17, 2021 Filed: March 26, 2021 ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ ARNOLD, Circuit Judge. After Yeemy Guatemala-Pineda entered the United States unlawfully, she applied for asylum so she wouldn't have to return to her home country of El Salvador. 1 Merrick B. Garland is serving as Attorney General of the United States, and is substituted as respondent pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c). She feared that if she returned there gangs would persecute her because of her religious activities. After a winding course of immigration proceedings that began more than ten years ago, the Board of Immigration Appeals ultimately denied her request for asylum. We deny the petition for review since we think substantial evidence supports the BIA's decision. Guatemala-Pineda, whom we will call Pineda as her real name is Yeemy Michael Pineda, attempted to enter the United States in 2010 at age 22 but was apprehended by immigration authorities and charged with being inadmissible as an alien without proper documentation. See U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). She conceded that the charge was true but applied for asylum, which protects, among others, refugees present in the United States who are unable or unwilling to return to their home country because they have a well-founded fear that others will persecute them on account of their religion. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42)(A), 1158(b)(1)(A). Pineda testified before an immigration judge that she was a practicing Christian who had participated in a church project of door-to-door evangelization that specifically targeted gang members. She related that a handful of gang members had at one time "cornered" and "grabbed" her during a church function and tried to recruit her to their gang, explicitly telling her that they did not want to see her working with the church. Though they also threatened to "take [her] by force" and find her wherever she went, they did not otherwise physically harm her. After that incident Pineda stopped attending church, opting instead to participate in religious services at other people's homes. During one of these home services, Pineda testified, gang members appeared outside and demanded that the group stop singing. She believed they were the same gang members who had threatened her before; they specifically called her by name and said they were "coming for" her. Two weeks later, at another home gathering, gang members again appeared outside, announced they were armed, and demanded that she come outside -2- or "they were going to get" her. The people inside threw themselves on the ground and waited about two hours until the gang members departed. At that point, Pineda testified, she obtained a job selling clothes in San Salvador, which was about ninety minutes from her home. She explained that gang members …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals