Loja-Tene v. Barr

The petitioner, Josrancisco Loja-Tene, is an Ecuadorian national. He came to the United States without documentation in 2014, having left Ecuador for fear of harm at the hands of his adopted older brother (Angel). The petitioner's remaining family `including his wife, mother, children, and three sisters `remain in Ecuador. According to the petitioner, his brother has been involved in narcotics trafficking since the mid-1990s. From that time forward, Angel periodically made unwelcome visits to the Loja-Tene family, during which he attempted to strong-arm the petitioner and his father into trafficking cocaine at Angel's behest. Both men refused to cooperate, and Angel's ire mounted. It escalated in 2011, when Angel reportedly murdered the petitioner's father. After the father's murder, Angel continued to pressure the petitioner to traffick cocaine. These pressure tactics included a threat delivered at gunpoint. Frightened by his brother's threats, the petitioner left Ecuador to seek passage to the United States. As an added precaution, his wife and children relocated to Peru, and then moved again to a remote Ecuadorian village (where they remain in hiding). Upon arriving in the United States, the petitioner applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT), alleging that he feared his brother will torture or kill him should he return to Ecuador. His argument for asylum and withholding of removal centered on his allegation that he faces persecution based on his membership in a particular social group (his family unit). The petitioner's family is a cognizable social group, he says, because his alleged persecutor (Angel) only sought to recruit immediate relatives.