FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION APR 15 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
VICTOR MANUEL GUARCAS-TOL, No. 10-72483
Petitioner, Agency No. A094-810-437
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted April 11, 2014**
San Francisco, California
Before: KLEINFELD, NGUYEN, and WATFORD, Circuit Judges.
Victor Guarcas-Tol petitions for review of an order by the Board of
Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming the immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of
withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
(CAT). Reviewing legal conclusions de novo and factual findings for substantial
evidence, Ghaly v. INS, 58 F.3d 1425, 1429 (9th Cir. 1995), we deny the petition.
Guarcas-Tol, a Guatemalan citizen, seeks withholding and CAT relief in
view of a threatening confrontation he had with a superior officer while serving in
the Guatemalan military. The IJ and the BIA assumed Guarcas-Tol’s testimony
was credible, but found that he failed to establish the required nexus to his claimed
political opinion, as required under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A), because the dispute
was personal in nature. The conclusion that the dispute did not concern the corrupt
operation of government forces at an institutional level is supported by law, see
Grava v. INS, 205 F.3d 1177, 1181 (9th Cir. 2000), and substantial evidence in the
record. Although Guarcas-Tol stresses the violence and corruption within the
Guatemalan military, the service’s notorious history does not convert what was
reasonably deemed a private dispute over individual misconduct, into one of
political dimensions.
As for Guarcas-Tol’s CAT claim, substantial evidence supports the finding
by the IJ and the BIA that petitioner failed to establish the requisite likelihood that
he would be tortured upon returning home.
PETITION DENIED.
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