NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ALBERTO CHAN

- SON,

Petitioner,

v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. No. 20

- 73526 Agency No. A206

- 092

- 900

MEMORANDUM *

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted March 10, 2022 * * Pasadena, California Before: WARDLAW and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and MOLLOY, ** * District Judge.
Alberto Chan

- Son, a citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from the order

* 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 Donald W. Molloy, United States District Judge for the District of Montana, sit ting by designation. 

# FILED

MAR 14 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS2

of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition.
1. Chan

- Son claims that he will be persecuted in Guatemala because of his membership in a social group of “indigenous victims of crime unable to obtain police protection.” He assert s that he was assaulted in Guatemala, received death threats demanding money, and could not report these threats or abuse to the police because he is indigenous. The IJ concluded, however, that Chan

- Son had failed to establish a nexus between any past or feared future persecution because of his membership in a protected group

. The BI A correctly found the IJ’s decision supported by substantial evidence
in the record

. Chan

- Son testified that he was attacked because his three assailants knew he had a fruit stand business, and wished to extort him for money. He did not
know whether he w as persecuted on account of his race or membership in a particular social group, and did not kno w the identit ies of the men who attacked him

. Without a nexus to a protected ground, Chan

- Son’s asylum and withholding claims
fail. See I

NS v. Elias

- Zacarias , 502 U.S. 478, 482

– 83 (1992) ; see also Zetino v.
Holder , 622 F.3d 1007, 1016 (9th Cir. 2010) (“An alien’s desire to be free from harassment by criminals motivated by theft or random violence by gang members bears no nexus to a protected grou nd.”).
2. Substantial evidence also supported the denial of CAT relief. S ee 83

C.F.R. § 1208.18(a)(1)

. Chan

- Son never reported his abuse to the police, and neither his declaration nor his testimony compel the conclusion that he is more likely than

not to be tortured by or with the acquiescence of a government official if he returns to Guatemala. Although there is evidence of societal discrimination against indigenous groups in Guatemala, the government’s ineffective investigation or prevention of crime d oes not constitute acquiescence in torture. See Andrade

- Garcia v. Lynch , 828 F.3d 829, 836

– 37 (9th Cir. 2016); see also Aguilar

- Osario v. Garland , 991 F.3d 997, 1000 (9th Cir. 2021) (finding that public officials did not acquiesce to torture when the “pol ice never learned about [ the ] harm [petitioner] suffered”).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED

.