Court Opinion

ID: 9388461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-20 17:00:44.499357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:20.481855
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                          FILED
                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        APR 20 2023
                                                                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Saul Dejesus Tejada-Castro,                     No. 21-251

              Petitioner,                       Agency No.       A205-648-309

  v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Attorney
General,

              Respondent.

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

                            Submitted April 18, 2023**
                                Portland, Oregon

Before: RAWLINSON, BEA, and SUNG, Circuit Judges.

       Saul Dejesus Tejada-Castro, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions

for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“Board”) dismissal of his

appeal from the Immigration Judge’s denial of his application for asylum and

       *
            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).
withholding of removal.1 We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), and

we deny the petition for review.

      Substantial evidence supports the Board’s determination that Tejada

failed to establish a well-founded fear of future persecution because he did not

establish a nexus between a protected ground and potential gang violence in El

Salvador.2 See Zetino v. Holder, 622 F.3d 1007, 1015 (9th Cir. 2010). Tejada

claimed fear of future persecution based on his membership in a particular

social group comprised of his “Immediate Family Members of [his three

children].”3 However, Tejada did not present any evidence that gangs in El

Salvador identified or threatened Tejada, his wife, or any other relative of

Tejada’s three children. See Sinha v. Holder, 564 F.3d 1015, 1022 (9th Cir.

2009) (explaining that the reasonableness of fear of persecution is undercut

1
  Tejada did not challenge the denial of his application for protection under the
Convention Against Torture before the Board. Thus, his claim is unexhausted.
See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 678 (9th Cir. 2004).
2
  The BIA assumed that Tejada was credible and his asylum application was
timely. In addition, Tejada did not assert or present evidence that he was
subjected to past persecution. Thus, our review is limited to whether Tejada
established a well-founded fear of future persecution. See Tekle v. Mukasey, 533
F.3d 1044, 1051 (9th Cir. 2008).
3
  To the extent that Tejada raises for the first time on appeal that he will be
persecuted on account of a political opinion, this claim is unexhausted, and we
lack jurisdiction to address it. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 678 (9th
Cir. 2004). Even if the issue were exhausted, “resistance to gang membership is
not a protected ground.” See also Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854–55 (9th
Cir. 2009), abrogated on other grounds by Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d
1081, 1093 (9th Cir. 2013) (en banc).

                                        2                                      21-251
when similarly situated family members remain in the home country

unharmed). Moreover, Tejada does not challenge the Board’s conclusions nor

does he explain why gangs will target him because his children refused the

gangs’ recruitment efforts. See Zetino, 622 F.3d at 1016 (“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 ground.”). Accordingly, Tejada’s

asylum and withholding of removal claims fail.

      PETITION DENIED.

                                        3                                    21-251