Court Opinion

ID: 2679122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-06-18 21:00:33.167846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:08.149559
License: Public Domain

FILED
                             NOT FOR PUBLICATION                            JUN 18 2014

                                                                        MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                     UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                      U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

                             FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DENCY MARIEL LEON-POLANCO,                       No. 11-73219

               Petitioner,                       Agency No. A098-793-593

  v.
                                                 MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,

               Respondent.

                      On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                          Board of Immigration Appeals

                             Submitted June 12, 2014**

Before:        McKEOWN, WARDLAW, and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges.

       Dency Mariel Leon-Polanco, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions

for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her

appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying her application for

asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against

          *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
          **
             The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for

substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d

1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir. 2006), and we review de novo claims of due process

violations, Colmenar v. INS, 210 F.3d 967, 971 (9th Cir. 2000). We deny in part

and grant in part the petition for review, and we remand.

      We reject Leon-Polanco’s contention that the IJ adjudicated her case without

reviewing the record, in violation of her due process rights. See Lata v. INS, 204

F.3d 1241, 1246 (9th Cir. 2000) (requiring error and prejudice to prevail on a due

process claim).

      Substantial evidence supports the agency’s denial of CAT relief because

Leon-Polanco failed to establish it is more likely than not she would be tortured by

or with the acquiescence of the government if returned to El Salvador. See Silaya

v. Mukasey, 524 F.3d 1066, 1073 (9th Cir. 2008).

      In denying Leon-Polanco’s asylum and withholding of removal claims, the

agency found Leon-Polanco failed to establish past persecution or a fear of future

persecution on account of a protected ground. When the IJ and BIA issued their

decisions in this case they did not have the benefit of either this court’s decisions in

Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2013) (en banc), Cordoba v.

Holder, 726 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2013), and Pirir-Boc v. Holder, No. 09-73671,

                                           2                                     11-73219
2014 WL 1797657 (9th Cir. May 7, 2014), or the BIA’s decisions in Matter of M-

E-V-G-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 227 (BIA 2014), and Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I. & N. Dec.

208 (BIA 2014). Thus, we remand Leon-Polanco’s asylum and withholding of

removal claims to determine the impact, if any, of these decisions. See INS v.

Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16-18 (2002) (per curiam). In light of this remand, we do

not reach Leon-Polanco’s remaining challenges to the agency’s denial of her

asylum and withholding of removal claims at this time.

      The parties shall bear their own costs for this petition for review.

      PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED in part; GRANTED in part;

REMANDED.

                                          3                                   11-73219