FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUL 22 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
HERBER ASBEL DE LEON- No. 09-72496
MAZARIEGOS,
Agency No. A072-109-940
Petitioner,
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 July 10, 2014
San Francisco, California
Before: N.R. SMITH and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges, and PIERSOL, Senior
District Judge.**
Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s decision that De Leon Mazariegos
failed to meet his burden of proof establishing that he was persecuted (1) on
account of an imputed political opinion or (2) on account of his membership in a
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Lawrence L. Piersol, Senior District Judge for the U.S.
District Court for the District of South Dakota, sitting by designation.
particular social group.1 The BIA accepted De Leon Mazariegos’s testimony that
guerillas attacked and threatened him and asked for him to reveal the location of
his father. There is no direct evidence of motive; the guerillas did not make any
statements relating to the political view of De Leon Mazariegos or his father nor
did they make any statement with regard to their own political views. See Garcia-
Milian v. Holder, No. 09-71461, 2014 WL 555138, *4-5 (9th Cir. February 13,
2014). De Leon Mazariegos claims that circumstantial evidence in the record
exists to support his claim. Specifically, De Leon Mazariegos argues that he was
targeted based on an imputed political opinion because his father was a member of
the civil patrol in Guatemala.2 This circumstantial evidence, by itself, does not
compel a conclusion that the guerillas were targeting him or his family based on
any imputed political opinion or membership in a particular social group. See
Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 747 (9th Cir. 2008) (“No evidence
suggests that the gang held any sort of belief system that they perceived Santos-
Lemus to oppose. Without evidence of an actual political opinion or motive in
1
Because substantial evidence supports the BIA’s determination that De
Leon Mazariegos was not persecuted on account of his membership in a particular
social group, we need not reach the issue of whether the BIA correctly determined
that his family may not constitute such a group.
2
De Leon Mazariegos did not testify that his father had problems with the
guerillas during the conflict or after De Leon Mazariegos fled Guatemala.
2
Santos-Lemus’s or the gang’s actions, his claim fails.”), overruled on other
grounds by Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081, 1093 (9th Cir. 2013) (en
banc); Arriaga-Barrientos v. INS, 937 F.2d 411, 414 (9th Cir. 1991) (holding that
mandatory service in the Guatemalan civil patrol is not sufficient to show an
imputed political opinion).
Because De Leon Mazariegos failed to show past persecution or a “well-
founded fear” of persecution on account of a statutorily protected ground under the
less demanding asylum standard, he necessarily failed to demonstrate eligibility for
withholding of removal. See Farah v. Ashcroft, 348 F.3d 1153, 1156 (9th Cir.
2003).
Substantial evidence also supports the BIA’s denial of De Leon
Mazariegos’s Convention Against Torture claim because he failed to establish it is
more likely than not that he will be tortured if he returns to Guatemala. See
Al-Saher v. INS, 268 F.3d 1143, 1147 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing 8 C.F.R.
§ 208.16(c)(2)).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
3