United States First Circuit

In removal proceedings in which the petitioner applied for withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture protection based on a claim was that he would be harmed by criminal gangs, prevalent in El Salvador, whose attempts to recruit him he had resisted before he left for the United States, and an assertion that the gangs would perceive him as wealthy because of his time in the United States and therefore subject him to further threats and violence, the BIA's denial of the application is affirmed where the category to which the petitioner sought to assign himself, whether as target of gang recruitment or a returnee perceived as wealthy, does not constitute a "social group" under BIA precedents that have several times been affirmed by the First Circuit.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/24/2012
• Published 01/24/2012

Judges

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert M. Warren, Anthony P. Nicastro