NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JUAN LUENGAS-NAVARRETE, 

Petitioner, 

 v. 

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney 

General, 

Respondent.

No. 16-73068 

Agency No. A087-746-083 

MEMORANDUM*

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Submitted July 7, 2022**

Seattle, Washington

Before: CLIFTON and BUMATAY, Circuit Judges, and SEEBORG,*** District 

Judge.

Petitioner Juan Luengas Navarrete, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions 

for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”),

* 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 Richard Seeborg, Chief United States District Judge 

for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation.

FILED

JUL 11 2022

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
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which denied his withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture 

(“CAT”) claims. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. “We review the 

[BIA’s] legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for substantial 

evidence[.]” Bringas-Rodriguez v. Sessions, 850 F.3d 1051, 1059 (9th Cir. 2017) 

(en banc) (citations omitted). We deny the petition for review.

1. Luengas Navarrete does not argue that the BIA disregarded certain 

evidence or committed legal error; instead, he essentially asks us to reweigh the 

evidence. Substantial evidence, however, supports the denial of relief under CAT. 

“To establish entitlement to protection under CAT, an applicant must show 

‘it is more likely than not that he or she would be tortured if removed to the 

proposed country of removal.’” Plancarte Sauceda v. Garland, 23 F.4th 824, 834 

(9th Cir. 2022) (quoting 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(2)). As defined for the purposes of 

CAT, torture is the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering that is 

“inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a 

public official acting in an official capacity or other person acting in an official 

capacity.” 8 C.F.R. § 1208.18(a)(1). When evaluating a CAT claim, “the 

[immigration judge] must consider all relevant evidence; no one factor is 

determinative.” Maldonado v. Lynch, 786 F.3d 1155, 1164 (9th Cir. 2015) (en 

banc).

The record provides little evidence in support of Luengas Navarrete’s claim 
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for relief. At his merits hearing, Luengas Navarrete testified that neither he nor any 

of his immediate family members have been harmed in Mexico. He testified that a 

distant relative was killed, but provided no details about the relative or the killing. 

Although he testified he thought the police in Mexico might harm him, he did not 

provide any basis for this belief, and he testified he did not believe any other 

members of the government would target him. Luengas Navarrete points to a 

country conditions report which states that torture by or with the acquiescence of 

government officials occurs with some frequency in Mexico. He provides no 

evidence, however, that he faces a particular threat of torture in Mexico, and thus 

the report alone cannot support his claim. See, e.g., Delgado-Ortiz v. Holder, 600 

F.3d 1148, 1152 (9th Cir. 2010) (“[G]eneralized evidence of violence and crime in 

Mexico is not particular to Petitioners and is insufficient to meet th[e] [CAT] 

standard.”). In short, the evidence does not “compel[] the conclusion” that the 

BIA’s decision was erroneous, and the petition is denied as to Luengas Navarrete’s 

CAT claim. Plancarte Sauceda, 23 F.4th at 831.

2. Luengas Navarrete only briefly discusses his withholding of removal 

claim, and concedes that our precedent forecloses this claim as his stated particular 

social group is not cognizable. The petition for review is therefore also denied as to 

the application for withholding of removal.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.