United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 17-1089
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Wagner A. Monterroso Divas
lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner
v.
Jefferson B. Sessions, III, Attorney General of the United States
lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent
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Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
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Submitted: October 24, 2017
Filed: October 30, 2017
[Unpublished]
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Before WOLLMAN, GRUENDER, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Wagner A. Monterroso Divas challenges the Board of Immigration Appeals
denial of withholding of removal. Having jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), this
court denies the petition for review.
Divas argues that as a former pharmaceutical delivery driver, he is a member
of a discrete social group in Guatemala. See 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A). This court
declines to reach that issue but addresses an alternative, independently sufficient
reason the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled against him: he did not prove the
persecution he claims to have suffered at the hands of gang members was attributable
to the Guatemalan government. See, e.g., Menjivar v. Gonzales, 416 F.3d 918, 921
(8th Cir. 2005) (“The BIA has adopted, and we have approved as reasonable, a
definition of ‘persecution’ that requires a harm to be inflicted either by the
government of a country or by persons or an organization that the government was
unable or unwilling to control.” (quotation and brackets omitted)).
The petition for review is denied.
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