Wendy Nineth Quinonez-Corado v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
WENDY NINETH QUINONEZ-CORADO,
Petitioner,
v.
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
No. 20-73478
Agency No. A200-628-591
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted January 10, 2022**
Pasadena, California
Before: RAWLINSON and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges, and BLOCK,*** District
Judge.
Wendy Nineth Quinonez-Corado, a native and citizen of Guatemala,
illegally entered the United States in November 2010, and was promptly ordered
* 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).
*** The Honorable Frederic Block, United States District Judge for the
Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation.
FILED
JAN 12 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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removed. She reentered again in December 2016 but encountered Border Patrol
agents. The Department of Homeland Security reinstated the prior removal order.
When Quinonez-Corado expressed fear of persecution or torture if returned to
Guatemala, she was given a reasonable fear interview before an Asylum Officer
(“AO”). Quinonez-Corado stated that she fears a member of a gang who, since
2008, had harassed her, forced her to carry out crimes for the gang, and wanted her
to be his wife and join the gang. The AO found Quinonez-Corado credible but
determined that she had not shown a reasonable fear of persecution or torture if
returned to Guatemala. Quinonez-Corado appealed to an Immigration Judge (“IJ”)
who heard Quinonez-Corado’s testimony and determined that she had not shown a
nexus between the harm she feared and a protected ground or a reasonable
possibility that the private harm she feared would be inflicted with the consent or
acquiescence of the public authorities. Quinonez-Corado filed a timely petition for
review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. We have jurisdiction to review the
IJ’s decision, 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1); Andrade-Garcia v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 829, 833
(9th Cir. 2016), and we deny the petition.
Reasonable fear proceedings are streamlined proceedings, “intended to
provide a fair determination of whether an alien has a reasonable fear of
persecution or torture, which fear would require the alien to be referred to an IJ to
review eligibility for withholding of removal or relief under the Convention

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Against Torture (‘CAT’).” Bartolome v. Sessions, 904 F.3d 803, 808 (9th Cir.
2018). “Thus, an IJ’s failure specifically to address all of the evidence and claims
before him or her . . . does not violate the alien’s due process rights.” Id. We
review the IJ’s determination that a non-citizen has not established a reasonable
fear of persecution or torture for substantial evidence and must uphold the IJ’s
decision “unless, based on the evidence, ‘any reasonable adjudicator would be
compelled to conclude to the contrary.’” Id. at 811 (quoting Ai Jun Zhi v. Holder,
751 F.3d 1088, 1091 (9th Cir. 2014)).
Quinonez-Corado asserts that she suffered past persecution on account of
her membership in a social group of single women in Guatemala who are
defenseless against criminal gangs. However, the IJ found that she had failed to
show a nexus between her proffered group and the harm she suffered. Quinonez-
Corado has not shown that this determination is unreasonable. She only testified
that one gangster was interested in her, but stated he never told her why he was
interested in her. She did not offer any evidence of the treatment of other members
of the proposed class by the individual gangster, any gang, or the Guatemalan
government.
In addition to showing past persecution and a nexus between the past
persecution and a protected ground, a noncitizen must show that the “persecution
was committed by the government, or by forces that the government was unable or

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unwilling to control.” Bringas-Rodriguez v. Sessions, 850 F.3d 1051, 1062 (9th
Cir. 2017 (quoting Baghdasaryan v. Holder, 592 F.3d 1018, 1023 (9th Cir. 2010)).
The IJ’s determination that Quinonez-Corado failed to show that the government is
unable or unwilling to protect her is supported by substantial evidence. Quinonez-
Corado does not allege that the gangster ever physically harmed her. Moreover,
this is not an instance where the police failed to act. See Davila v. Barr, 968 F.3d
1136, 1143 (9th Cir. 2020). When Quinonez-Corado went to the police in 2008,
they took her report and opened a case, even though she asserts that they did not
investigate her complaint. In 2013, in another city, when Quinonez-Corado
complained to the police, they took her report and said they would investigate. In
addition, Quinonez-Corado reported that the police on occasion detained the
gangster who harassed her and that he had been detained for nearly a year in 2012
or 2013. Thus, even though Quinonez-Corado never alleged physical harm, the
authorities were responsive to her complaints, and were not afraid of the gangster.
Also, Quinonez-Corado did not contend that she could not safely relocate to
another part of Guatemala.
Because Quinonez-Corado has not made a compelling showing of either a
nexus between her past persecution and her membership in a cognizable social
group, or that the authorities are unable or unwilling to protect her should she
return to Guatemala, her petition is DENIED.

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