Court Opinion

ID: 9408876
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-13 22:01:36.768746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:47.499333
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                          JUL 13 2023
                                                                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CECILIO AREVALO RUANO,                          No. 22-371
                                                Agency No.
             Petitioner,                        A074-668-727
 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,

             Respondent.

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

                            Submitted July 11, 2023**
                              Pasadena, California

Before: SANCHEZ and MENDOZA, Circuit Judges, and DONATO, District
Judge.***

      Cecilio Arevalo Ruano, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for

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

dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his

      *
            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 James Donato, United States District Judge for the
Northern District of California, sitting by designation.
application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the

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

§ 1252, and we deny the petition.

      1.     We do not address Arevalo Ruano’s claims that the IJ erred in its

adverse credibility, res judicata, and time-bar determinations because the BIA did

not reach those questions. “Where the BIA conducts its own review of the

evidence and law, rather than adopting the IJ’s decision, our review is limited to

the BIA’s decision, except to the extent the IJ’s opinion is expressly adopted.”

Guerra v. Barr, 974 F.3d 909, 911 (9th Cir. 2020) (quoting Rodriguez v. Holder,

683 F.3d 1164, 1169 (9th Cir. 2012)). In reviewing the BIA’s decision, “we

consider only the grounds relied upon by that agency.” Garcia v. Wilkinson, 988

F.3d 1136, 1142 (9th Cir. 2021).

      2.     Arevalo Ruano did not challenge before the BIA the IJ’s dispositive

determinations that his proposed particular social group is not legally cognizable

and that he failed to satisfy the burden for CAT protection. Because Arevalo

Ruano failed to exhaust any argument challenging these determinations as

required under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1), we may not consider them over the

government’s objection. See Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, 143 S. Ct. 1103, 1114

(2023); Umana-Escobar v. Garland, 69 F.4th 544, 550 (9th Cir. 2023).

      PETITION DENIED.

                                        2                                   22-371