Case ID: f-appx_407/html/0210-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
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Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Yelson Otoniel TORREZ-LUNA, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
    No. 09-74032.
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    Submitted Dec. 14, 2010.
    
    Filed Dec. 29, 2010.
    Jenny Tsai, Green & Tsai, Attorneys at Law, San Francisco, CA, for Petitioner.
    Susan Bennett Green, Trial, OIL, DOJ — U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Chief Counsel Ice, Office of the Chief Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, for Respondent.
    Before: GOODWIN, WALLACE, and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.
    
      
       The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
    
   MEMORANDUM

Yelson Otoniel Torrez-Luna, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals which dismissed his appeal from the immigration judge’s denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture.

We reject Torrez-Luna’s claim that he is eligible for asylum based on his membership in a particular social group, namely young men who resist gang recruitment. See Ramos-Lopez v. Holder, 563 F.3d 855, 858-62 (9th Cir.2009) (rejecting as a social group young Honduran men resisting gangs); Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 745-46 (9th Cir.2008) (rejecting as a social group “young men in El Salvador resisting gang violence”). We also reject Torrez-Luna’s claim that he is eligible for asylum based on his political opinion, namely his position that he is resistant to gangs. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992); Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir.2009). Because Torrez-Luna failed to demonstrate that he was persecuted on account of a protected ground, we uphold the agency’s denial of his asylum and withholding of removal claims. Id. at 856.

In addition, substantial evidence supports the agency’s denial of CAT relief because Torrez-Luna failed to establish that it is more likely than not that he will be tortured at the acquiescence of the government if he returns to Honduras. See Santos-Lemus, 542 F.3d at 748.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED. 
      
       This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9 th Cir. R. 36-3.