Court Opinion

ID: 9891793
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-19 18:00:37.243807+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:00:33.363594
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       OCT 19 2023
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ALFONSO MONJARAS MAZARIEGOS,                    No. 22-1916
                                                Agency No.
             Petitioner,                        A215-581-011
 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,

             Respondent.

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

                           Submitted October 10, 2023**

Before:      S.R. THOMAS, McKEOWN, and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges.

      Alfonso Monjaras Mazariegos, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions

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

his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his applications for

asylum and withholding of removal, and granting him protection under the

      *
             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).
Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C.

§ 1252. We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Conde

Quevedo v. Barr, 947 F.3d 1238, 1241 (9th Cir. 2020). We deny the petition for

review.

      Although Monjaras Mazariegos contends that the BIA erred by denying him

withholding of removal under CAT, this contention is misplaced. The IJ granted

withholding of removal under CAT, the Department of Homeland Security

withdrew its appeal to the BIA with respect to the grant of CAT protection, and the

BIA did not disturb the IJ’s determination. Therefore, the IJ’s grant of withholding

of removal under CAT remains in place.

      Substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that Monjaras

Mazariegos failed to establish he was or would be persecuted on account of a

protected ground. See Garcia v. Wilkinson, 988 F.3d 1136, 1143 (9th Cir. 2021)

(“The applicant must demonstrate a nexus between her past or feared harm and a

protected ground.”) (citation omitted); see also INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S.

478, 483 (1992) (an applicant “must provide some evidence of [motive], direct or

circumstantial”). Thus, his asylum claim fails. Because Monjaras Mazariegos

failed to establish any nexus at all, he also failed to satisfy the standard for

withholding of removal. See Barajas-Romero v. Lynch, 846 F.3d 351, 359-60 (9th

Cir. 2017).

                                          2                                        22-1916
      We do not address Monjaras Mazariegos’s contentions as to whether the

harm suffered rose to the level of persecution and the cognizability of the proposed

particular social groups because the BIA did not deny relief on these grounds. See

Santiago-Rodriguez v. Holder, 657 F.3d 820, 829 (9th Cir. 2011) (“In reviewing

the decision of the BIA, we consider only the grounds relied upon by that agency.”

(citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

      PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

                                        3                                  22-1916