FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 8 2023 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JUAN ROBERTO ZAMORA FUENTES, No. 21-70076 Petitioner, Agency No. A206-623-348 v. MEMORANDUM* MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted June 5, 2023** Pasadena, California Before: WALLACE and OWENS, Circuit Judges, and FITZWATER,*** District Judge. * 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 Sidney A. Fitzwater, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, sitting by designation. Juan Zamora Fuentes (“Zamora Fuentes”), a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ’s”) order denying asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Zamora Fuentes also argues that the immigration court lacked jurisdiction over his immigration proceedings because the Notice to Appear served on Zamora Fuentes was insufficient. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. Reviewing the agency’s factual determinations for substantial evidence, see Singh v. Holder, 638 F.3d 1264, 1268-69 (9th Cir. 2011), we deny the petition for review.1 1. The BIA properly concluded that Zamora Fuentes was not eligible for asylum due to his inability to establish a nexus between his membership in a social group consisting of his family members and any past or future persecution. To be eligible for asylum, an applicant “bears the burden of” establishing that he “is a refuge within the meaning of . . . 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A),” and that “a nexus” exists between “past or feared harm and a protected ground.” Garcia v. Wilkinson, 988 F.3d 1136, 1142-43 (9th Cir. 2021) (citing Barajas-Romero v. Lynch, 846 F.3d 351, 359-60 1 Because the BIA adopted the decision of the IJ, we “review the IJ’s decision as if it were that of the BIA.” Young Sun Shin v. Mukasey, 547 F.3d 1019, 1023 (9th Cir. 2008) (quoting Abebe v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 1037, 1039 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc)). 2 (9th Cir. 2017)). “Specifically, the protected characteristic must be ‘a central reason’ for the past or feared harm.” Id. at 1143 (citing Barajas-Romero, 846 F.3d at 359-60). Here, Zamora Fuentes failed to provide any evidence that he or other members of his family have faced persecution because of membership in his family group. Notably, Zamora Fuentes’s parents and siblings have resided in the same area of El Salvador, largely without incident, since Zamora Fuentes left ten years ago. Although Zamora Fuentes’s cousin was murdered by gang members, Zamora Fuentes testified that the cousin was murdered because he was a member of a rival gang, not because he was a member of Zamora Fuentes’s family. Based on these facts, substantial evidence …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals