No. 20-2355 ___________________________

Karla Monika Gilbertson

Petitioner

v.

Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General of the United States; Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Respondents ____________

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________

Submitted: May 13, 2021 Filed: August 2, 2021 ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, SHEPHERD and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge.

Karla Monika Gilbertson, a native and citizen of Mexico, appeals a Board of Immigration Appeals order denying her removal relief. For the following reasons, we deny the petition. I. Background

In 1992, at age thirteen, Gilbertson illegally entered the United States. Since then, she has mainly lived in Minnesota. In 2016, she became a lawful permanent resident via the Violence Against Women Act.

In 2011, Gilbertson began an eight-year relationship with “El Chino,” a drug dealer who introduced her to methamphetamine and heroin. Soon, she became involved in El Chino’s drug deals.

Around that time, Gilbertson also met “Archie”—another drug dealer—who, according to Gilbertson, belonged to Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel which traffics drugs between Mexico and the northern United States. Archie gave Gilbertson money and meth for her personal use. Gilbertson learned about the tunnels that Los Zetas used to smuggle drugs into the United States. In time, she also got involved in Archie’s drug deals by acting as an intermediary between Archie and El Chino.

In 2017, a drug deal went bad. As Gilbertson tells it, El Chino gave her a car to transport a $50,000 load of meth. Unbeknownst to her, the vehicle was stolen. Later, police stopped the car, arrested the drivers, and seized the meth. Soon after, two males attacked Gilbertson in her home. And at least ten times after that, drug users broke into her house to try to steal her drug stash. Archie also made threatening phone calls to Gilbertson and sent her videos of masked Los Zetas members carrying out executions.

In 2018, police searched Gilbertson’s house and discovered drugs and weapons. After Gilbertson was charged with various state crimes, she pled guilty to selling controlled substances, see Minn. Stat. § 152.023, subd.1(1), a felony in Minnesota. She was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment. Gilbertson concedes that this offense constitutes an aggravated felony making her statutorily ineligible to seek asylum.

-2- The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) then commenced removal proceedings. At her removal hearing, Gilbertson testified about her mental health history—which includes diagnoses of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, borderline multiple personality disorder, impulse control problems, and repeated attempts to end her own life.

Because Gilbertson conceded her state drug offense constituted an aggravated felony, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) concluded that Gilbertson had been convicted of a per se “particularly serious crime” (“PSC”), was ineligible to seek asylum, and was barred from withholding of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(ii), (B)(i); 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(B)(ii). The IJ also concluded that Gilbertson did not meet her burden of proof to establish eligibility for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The BIA adopted and affirmed the IJ’s decision, and Gilbertson, seeking to remain in the United States,