Cruz-Martinez v. Sessions

Cruz-Martinez, a Mexican citizen, came to the U.S. illegally in 1993. He was removed in 2002 under a stipulated removal order for “Rocha-Martinez,” which was an alias. Cruz-Martinez states that in 2005 armed men who had fought with his brothers threatened him at his mother’s home in Mexico while looking for his brother; the police did nothing. Cruz-Martinez returned to the U.S. without permission. He acquired criminal convictions for aggravated assault, possession of cocaine, and obstructing police. Cruz-Martinez married a U.S. citizen with whom he has a child and is a step-father to her other children. All of his siblings and his mother now reside in the U.S. Some, including his mother, have gone back and forth to Mexico without incident; none have sought protection from persecution. In 2014, DHS reinstated the 2002 removal order. The Chicago Asylum Office made a positive reasonable-fear determination. The IJ denied Cruz-Martinez’s applications for asylum and for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, finding no clear probability of persecution or torture. The Board affirmed, denying Cruz-Martinez’s request for consideration of new evidence concerning the State Department’s travel warning and news articles about conditions in Mexico. The Seventh Circuit denied his petition for review, upholding the reinstatement of the removal order, the refusal to consider new evidence, and findings that Cruz-Martinez was ineligible for asylum and not eligible for CAT protection. View "Cruz-Martinez v. Sessions" on Justia Law