Background
Erick Jesus Flores-Turcios, a native and citizen of Guatemala, entered the United States without inspection in two thousand and sixteen. He applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, claiming fear of persecution by the MS-13 gang due to his membership in social groups defined as Guatemalan adolescents and youths who resist gang recruitment. The Immigration Judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals denied his claims, finding that the gang targeted him for economic reasons and that he failed to show official acquiescence to future torture.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed the Board’s factual findings for substantial evidence and legal conclusions de novo. Regarding asylum and withholding of removal, the court concluded that the record supported the finding that the gang targeted the petitioner because he could not pay extortion demands, not because of his youth or resistance. The court noted that a gang’s general growth motivations do not preclude a nexus, but the petitioner offered no evidence that his specific traits were a central reason for his targeting. Regarding the Convention Against Torture claim, the court found the Board’s procedural shorthand adequately distinguished between factual and legal review, and the record showed Guatemalan officials generally attempt to combat gang violence without acquiescing to torture.
Substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that neither Flores-Turcios’s youth nor his personal-belief-based resistance to being recruited was a central reason for his targeting.
Opinion at 5
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces the high evidentiary bar for asylum seekers claiming persecution by gangs based on youth or resistance to recruitment, requiring specific proof that the persecutor singled them out for those traits rather than for general economic reasons.