Maria Estela Garcia Alvarenga; M.S.V.G.; G.V.V.G.; J.D.V.G.; J.M.C.G. v. Pamela Bondi, Attorney General of the United States

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 22-2971
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Maria Estela Garcia Alvarenga; M.S.V.G.; G.V.V.G.; J.D.V.G.; J.M.C.G.
Petitioners
v.
Pamela Bondi, Attorney General of the United States
Respondent
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Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
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Submitted: May 12, 2025
Filed: August 13, 2025
[Unpublished]
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Before BENTON, KELLY, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Honduran citizen Maria Estela Garcia Alvarenga petitions for review of a final
order of removal from the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying her
application1 for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the
1 Garcia Alvarenga included her children on the application as derivative
beneficiaries, but derivative relief is available only on her asylum claim. See 8

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Convention Against Torture (CAT). Seeing no grounds to disturb the BIA’s order,
we deny the petition.
I.
Garcia Alvarenga and her children entered the United States in August 2017.
In removal proceedings, Garcia Alvarenga conceded her removability but applied
for asylum, see 8 U.S.C. § 1158, withholding of removal, see 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3),
and relief under the CAT, see 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16–.18. At the removal hearing,
Garcia Alvarenga testified that she had been living with her four children in
Honduras, when a local man became romantically interested in one of her daughters.
The man was a member of MS-13, and Garcia Alvarenga made it clear to him that
she would not let him date her daughter. He eventually threatened to kill Garcia
Alvarenga and her other children if she did not permit him to date her daughter. In
response, Garcia Alvarenga and her children moved in with her sister in another
town in Honduras, before leaving for the United States.
The immigration judge (IJ) found Garcia Alvarenga’s testimony credible but
denied all relief. The BIA affirmed.
II.
“This court reviews the BIA’s decision as the final agency action . . . .” R.K.N.
v. Holder, 701 F.3d 535, 537 (8th Cir. 2012). “We review the agency determination
that a[ noncitizen] is not eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under
the Convention Against Torture using the deferential substantial evidence standard.”
Juarez Chilel v. Holder, 779 F.3d 850, 853 (8th Cir. 2015) (quoting Osonowo v.
Mukasey, 521 F.3d 922, 927 (8th Cir. 2008)). Pursuant to this “standard of review,
we are not at liberty to reweigh the evidence, and we will uphold the denial of relief
U.S.C. § 1158(b)(3)(A); Fuentes v. Barr, 969 F.3d 865, 868 n.1 (8th Cir. 2020)
(explaining that neither withholding of removal nor the CAT “provide derivative
benefits”).

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unless the [noncitizen] demonstrates that the evidence was so compelling that no
reasonable fact finder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution.” Id. (quoting
same). “Legal determinations are reviewed de novo.” Becerril-Sanchez v. Bondi,
127 F.4th 1099, 1109 (8th Cir. 2025).
We begin with Garcia Alvarenga’s application for asylum. “To establish
eligibility for asylum, [Garcia Alvarenga] must show that she meets the definition
of ‘refugee.’” Juarez-Coronado v. Barr, 919 F.3d 1085, 1088 (8th Cir. 2019). A
“refugee” is someone “who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or
unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, [his or her country of
nationality] because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account
of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)).
Garcia Alvarenga sought asylum based on past persecution and a well-
founded fear of future persecution due to her membership in five social groups: “(1)
Honduran women and girls; (2) Honduran women and girls viewed as property by
armed criminal organizations; (3) nuclear family members of [her daughter]; (4)
Honduran mothers; and (5) Honduran women who refuse to conform to societal
norms or Honduran women who favor women’s rights and equality.”
The BIA determined that the first, second, and fifth groups were not
cognizable, and the government argues the same on appeal. “A social group requires
sufficient particularity and visibility such that the group is perceived as a cohesive
group by society.” Juarez Chilel, 779 F.3d at 854 (quoting Garcia v. Holder, 746
F.3d 869, 872 (8th Cir. 2014)). “Membership in a particular social group refers to
persons who hold an immutable characteristic, or common trait such as sex, color,
kinship, or . . . shared past experiences.” Id. (quoting same). “The group must also
be discrete and have definable boundaries—it must not be amorphous, overbroad,
diffuse, or subjective.” Fuentes v. Barr, 969 F.3d 865, 871 (8th Cir. 2020) (quotation
omitted).

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The BIA concluded that the first group of “Honduran women and girls” was
an overbroad social group, and we see no error. Compare Safaie v. I.N.S., 25 F.3d
636, 640 (8th Cir. 1994) (rejecting the particular social group of “Iranian women”
as “overbroad, because no factfinder could reasonably conclude that all Iranian
women had a well-founded fear of persecution based solely on their gender”
superseded by statute on other grounds, as recognized in Rife v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d
606, 614–15 (8th Cir. 2004)), with Hassan v. Gonzales, 484 F.3d 513, 518 (8th Cir.
2007) (approving a country-wide gender-based group because “a factfinder could
reasonably conclude that all Somali females have a well-founded fear of persecution
based solely on gender given the prevalence of [female genital mutilation]”
(emphasis added)).
We likewise conclude that the BIA did not err in finding the second group,
“Honduran women and girls viewed as property by armed criminal organizations,”
insufficiently particular and not supported with record evidence showing the group
is socially distinct. See Juarez Chilel, 779 F.3d at 854 (holding proposed group
“individuals who are victims of gang violence” not cognizable because it “lacks the
visibility and particularity required to constitute a social group” (quotation omitted));
Fuentes, 969 F.3d at 872 (holding proposed group “vulnerable Salvadoran females”
insufficiently particular because there was no “clear benchmark for determining who
falls within the group” and the “group is defined based on its members being at risk
of persecution” (quoting Rivas v. Sessions, 899 F.3d 537, 541 (8th Cir. 2018))). And
regarding the fifth group, we see no error in the BIA’s conclusion that insufficient
evidence supported “Honduran women who refuse to conform to societal norms or
Honduran women who favor women’s rights and equality” as a distinct social group.
See Rivas, 899 F.3d at 541 (determining social group of “targeted gang girlfriends”
insufficiently particular because “[m]embership in the group . . . depends entirely on
whom the persecutor targets,” and non-citizen failed to demonstrate society
perceives the group as socially distinct).

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As to the third and fourth, family-based groups2—nuclear family members of
Garcia Alvarenga’s daughter and Honduran mothers—the BIA concluded that
Garcia Alvarenga did not show sufficient evidence of a nexus between her
membership in the groups and the claimed persecution. See Ferchichi v. Bondi, 128
F.4th 966, 974 (8th Cir. 2025) (explaining that “petitioners must show that a
protected ground ‘was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the
applicant’” (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i))); Fuentes, 969 F.3d at 871 (noting
that, though “members of an immediate family may constitute a particular social
group,” the applicant must still prove “a nexus between the persecution suffered and
the applicant’s membership in that social group” (quoting Rivas, 899 F.3d at 542)).
Here, the man did not begin threatening Garcia Alvarenga until after she refused to
let him date her daughter, and Garcia Alvarenga and other members of her family
had previously lived in Honduras, without threats from this man, for several years.
See Fuentes, 969 F.3d at 871 (“The fact that ‘other family members have not suffered
persecution . . . supports the Board’s conclusion that [the applicant] was [not]
persecuted on account of her membership in the family.’” (second and third
alterations in original) (quoting Rivas, 899 F.3d at 542)). Thus, the BIA concluded
that the IJ did not clearly err by finding that the local man targeted Garcia Alvarenga
because of a personal dispute—that she refused to let him date her daughter. See
Rivas, 899 F.3d at 542 (“[T]he fact that a persecutor targets a family member simply
as a means to an end is not, by itself, sufficient to establish a claim.” (quotation
omitted)). We see no error in this determination. See id. (“The record [must] compel
a conclusion that family relationship—independent of . . . other factors—was a
central reason for persecution.” (emphasis added)).
Because the BIA did not err in denying Garcia Alvarenga’s claim for asylum,
it necessarily follows that the BIA did not err in finding that she did not meet the
standard for withholding of removal. See Becerril-Sanchez, 127 F.4th at 1110
(explaining that a noncitizen “who cannot meet the standard for asylum cannot meet
2 The government does not contest that these two particular social groups are
cognizable.

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the standard for establishing withholding of removal” (quoting Guled v. Mukasey,
515 F.3d 872, 881 (8th Cir. 2008))); see also Juarez-Coronado, 919 F.3d at 1089
(same).
Nor did the BIA err in upholding the IJ’s denial of CAT relief. Garcia
Alvarenga does not challenge the BIA’s determination that she could safely relocate
within Honduras, which is an independent bar to CAT relief. See Bautista-Bautista
v. Garland, 3 F.4th 1048, 1054 (8th Cir. 2021) (noting that if someone can relocate
to avoid torture, that renders them “ineligible for relief under the [CAT]”).
III.
We deny Garcia Alvarenga’s petition for review.
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