Opinion
No. 20-60627
10-25-2022
Emma Yesenia GUEVARA-FABIAN; Genesis Rebeca Villalta-Guevara, Petitioners, v. Merrick GARLAND, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent.
Anita Laven, Laven Law Firm, P.L.L.C., Houston, TX, for Petitioners. Julia Jennings Tyler, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
Anita Laven, Laven Law Firm, P.L.L.C., Houston, TX, for Petitioners.
Julia Jennings Tyler, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
Before Southwick, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM: Emma Yesenia Guevara-Fabian and Genesis Rebeca Villalta-Guevara (Genesis), each a native and citizen of El Salvador, petition for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals. That decision, in turn, affirmed an Immigration Judge's order denying asylum to Guevara-Fabian and Genesis, and denying withholding of their removal. Genesis is Guevara-Fabian's daughter and is a rider on her application.
The Board affirmed without an opinion, so the Immigration Judge's order is "the final agency determination." Miresles-Zuniga v. Holder , 743 F.3d 110, 112 n.2 (5th Cir. 2014). The Immigration Judge's factual findings are conclusive "unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary." 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B).
Guevara-Fabian seeks asylum and withholding of removal based on membership in a proposed particular social group that she describes as "family member of Jose Amadeo Fabian." Jose Amadeo Fabian is Guevara-Fabian's uncle. He was attacked and beaten after he refused to carry contraband into the prison where he worked. The Immigration Judge found that no factual nexus exists between Guevara-Fabian's familial relationship to her uncle (even if that family is a particular social group) and the harm that Guevara-Fabian experienced (even if that harm is persecution). The record does not compel any contrary finding. Instead, there is substantial evidence that Guevara-Fabian was the target of an extortion scheme, that she was safe so long as she paid, and that the extortionists targeted her because she owned a profitable business—not because she was a family member of Jose Amadeo Fabian.
Nor does the record compel a finding that Guevara-Fabian has a well-founded fear of future persecution. Her uncle has himself avoided further attacks, Guevara-Fabian's family members that remain in El Salvador have not been threatened or harmed, and Guevara-Fabian no longer owns the business that made her an extortion target to begin with.
Because Guevara-Fabian has failed to establish that she is eligible for asylum, she has "also fail[ed] to establish eligibility for withholding of removal." Vazquez-Guerra v. Garland , 7 F.4th 265, 271 (5th Cir. 2021).
The petition for review is DENIED.