Ana Alvarado Gonzalez v. Eric Holder, Jr. ( 2015 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAR 19 2015
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ANA LUCIA ALVARADO GONZALEZ, No. 12-70765
Petitioner, Agency No. A072-398-694
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted March 10, 2015**
Before: FARRIS, WARDLAW, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.
Ana Lucia Alvarado Gonzalez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions
for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her
appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying her application for
withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
(“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for substantial
evidence the agency’s factual findings. Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-
85 (9th Cir. 2006). We grant the petition for review, and we remand.
Alvarado Gonzalez testified that she witnessed her cousin being kidnaped by
persons later identified as members of the national police, and that his body was
later found with signs that he had been tortured. She also testified the national
police raped and abused her the year after her cousin’s murder.
In denying Alvarado Gonzalez’s withholding of removal claim, the BIA
found Alvarado Gonzalez failed to establish a nexus to a protected ground. When
the IJ and BIA issued their decisions in this case, they did not have the benefit of
this court’s decisions in Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2013)
(en banc), Cordoba v. Holder, 726 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2013), and Pirir-Boc v.
Holder, 750 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2014), or the BIA’s decisions in Matter of
M-E-V-G-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 227 (BIA 2014), and Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I. & N.
Dec. 208 (BIA 2014). Thus, we remand Alvarado Gonzalez’s withholding of
removal claim to determine the impact, if any, of these decisions. See INS v.
Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16-18 (2002) (per curiam). In light of this remand, we do
not reach Alvarado Gonzalez’s remaining challenges to the agency’s denial of her
withholding of removal claim.
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Finally, we also remand Alvarado Gonzalez’s CAT claim because the BIA
did not consider the national police’s rape and abuse of Alvarado Gonzalez in
evaluating her claim. See Edu v. Holder, 624 F.3d 1137, 1145 (9th Cir. 2010)
(explaining the “BIA must consider all evidence in deciding whether it is more
likely than not that the alien would face future torture,” and that “the existence of
past torture is ordinarily the principal factor on which we rely.”) (internal quotation
and citation omitted), see also Ventura, 537 U.S. at 16-18.
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.
3 12-70765