Rana v. Holder

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT NOV 24 2010 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS PRAKASH NARSHING RANA, No. 06-73897 Petitioner, Agency No. A079-276-992 v. MEMORANDUM* ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Argued and Submitted November 4, 2010 San Francisco, California Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, RYMER, Circuit Judge, and KENNELLY, District Judge.** The agency denied Rana’s asylum claim as time-barred. Rana has forfeited any challenge to this ruling by failing to address it in his brief. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1228, 1232 n.4 (9th Cir. 2004). * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation. The agency denied Rana’s withholding of removal and CAT claims based on the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. Substantial evidence supports this determination. See Kin v. Holder, 595 F.3d 1050, 1055 (9th Cir. 2010). Rana admitted that he possessed a valid Nepalese passport issued by the Nepalese embassy in Washington, D.C., describing him as a citizen of Nepal and listing his birthplace as Kathmandu, Nepal. The IJ reasonably found that Rana’s possession of the passport undermined his claim of Bhutanese birth and citizenship. Because this finding goes to the heart of Rana’s claims, we need not address the other grounds upon which the IJ relied. See Wang v. INS, 352 F.3d 1250, 1259 (9th Cir. 2003). The petition for review is DENIED.