Karin Barrera-Eufragio v. William Barr

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
JUL 21 2020
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
KARIN VANESSA BARRERA- No. 17-72898
EUFRAGIO; ELVIN GABRIEL
CASTILLO-BARRERA, Agency Nos. A206-846-119
A206-846-120
Petitioners,
v. MEMORANDUM*
WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted July 17, 2020**
Before: HAWKINS, GRABER, and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Karin Vanessa Barrera-Eufragio and her minor son1 seek review
of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ ("BIA") dismissal of their appeal from an
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
1
The son’s petition is entirely derivative of his mother’s.
immigration judge’s order denying their applications for asylum, humanitarian
asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against
Torture ("CAT"). We review de novo questions of law, and we uphold the BIA’s
denial of relief unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. Guo v.
Sessions, 897 F.3d 1208, 1212 (9th Cir. 2018). We deny the petitions.
1. We rejected Petitioner’s jurisdictional argument in Karingithi v.
Whitaker, 913 F.3d 1158, 1160 (9th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 1106
(2020).
2. Substantial evidence supports the agency’s finding that Petitioner did not
suffer past persecution, because the Honduran government was not "unable or
unwilling to control" her father. Guo, 897 F.3d at 1213. The police arrested
Petitioner’s father about two months after she reported his crimes; he was
prosecuted, convicted of rape, and sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison.
Although the police did not act when Petitioner’s father sent her a threatening text
message after he was released from prison, that fact does not compel a conclusion
contrary to the BIA’s. No evidence indicates, for example, that the message itself
constituted a crime.
Because Petitioner did not suffer past persecution (and did not attempt to
show a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground),
2
her claims for asylum and humanitarian asylum fail. Hanna v. Keisler, 506 F.3d
933, 939 (9th Cir. 2007). Given that Petitioner failed to demonstrate her eligibility
for asylum, "she necessarily failed to satisfy the higher standard for withholding of
removal." Yan Liu v. Holder, 640 F.3d 918, 926 n.5 (9th Cir. 2011).
3. Substantial evidence supports the agency’s denial of CAT protection.
Petitioner did not meet her burden to show that she would "more likely than not"
be tortured "by or with the acquiescence of a government official or other person
acting in an official capacity" if she were removed to Honduras. Tamang v.
Holder, 598 F.3d 1083, 1095 (9th Cir. 2010). The Honduran government’s past
prosecution of Petitioner’s father contradicts her claim that the government would
acquiesce in any future torture. And "generalized evidence of violence and crime"
in Honduras does not satisfy the standard for CAT protection. Delgado-Ortiz v.
Holder, 600 F.3d 1148, 1152 (9th Cir. 2010) (per curiam).
PETITIONS DENIED.
3