FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
DEC 16 2019
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ANA GRISELDA GOMEZ-RAMOS, No. 16-73073
Petitioner, Agency No. A206-713-657
v.
MEMORANDUM*
WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 11, 2019**
Pasadena, California
Before: N.R. SMITH and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, and KORMAN,*** District
Judge.
Ana Gomez-Ramos petitions for review of the decision of the Board of
Immigration Appeals, dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s decision
*
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 Edward R. Korman, United States District Judge for
the Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation.
denying her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the
Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition for review.
1. On appeal, Gomez-Ramos challenges the BIA’s conclusion that she failed to
establish a cognizable social group. However, Gomez-Ramos failed to challenge
the BIA’s alternative conclusions that she did not establish (1) she was previously
persecuted or had a well-founded fear of future persecution “on account of her
membership in the proposed social group” or (2) “the government of El Salvador is
unable or unwilling to control the feared individuals.” Thus, she has waived these
claims. See Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(8)(A); Greenwood v. FAA, 28 F.3d 971, 977
(9th Cir. 1994) (“We review only issues which are argued specifically and
distinctly in a party’s opening brief. We will not manufacture arguments for an
appellant, and a bare assertion does not preserve a claim . . . .” (citation omitted)).
Gomez-Ramos’s failure to address the BIA’s alternative conclusions are
fatal to her claims for asylum and withholding of removal (even assuming her
proposed social groups were raised to the BIA and cognizable), because she cannot
establish eligibility without past persecution or a well-founded fear of future
persecution. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A); Gormley v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 1172,
1177 (9th Cir. 2004) (“To establish past persecution, [aliens] must demonstrate
that: (1) their experiences rise to the level of persecution; (2) the persecution was
2
on account of one or more of the five protected grounds; and (3) the persecution
was committed either by the government or by forces that the government was
unable or unwilling to control.”).
2. Gomez-Ramos did not meaningfully address her CAT claim in her opening
brief. See Christian Legal Soc’y Chapter of Univ. of Cal. v. Wu, 626 F.3d 483, 485
(9th Cir. 2010) (“Within the opening brief, claims must be clearly articulated in (1)
‘a statement of the issues presented for review’; (2) ‘a summary of the argument’;
and (3) ‘the argument’ section itself.” (quoting Fed. R. App. P. 28)). Even
assuming her claim is not waived, substantial evidence supports the BIA’s
conclusion that there is no evidence that the government would acquiesce in her
torture. See Madrigal v. Holder, 716 F.3d 499, 510 (9th Cir. 2013).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
3