Court Opinion

ID: 5127323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2021-11-18 21:01:53.913265+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:22:58.839011
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       NOV 18 2021
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DOMINGO SIMON-LUCAS; et al.,                    No.    20-72474

                Petitioners,                    Agency Nos.       A209-899-430
                                                                  A209-899-429
 v.

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney                    MEMORANDUM*
General,

                Respondent.

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

                          Submitted November 8, 2021**

Before:      CANBY, TASHIMA, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.

      Domingo Simon-Lucas and his son, natives and citizens of Guatemala,

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

their appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying their motion to

terminate and their applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief

      *
             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).
under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8

U.S.C. § 1252. We review for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to

terminate. Dominguez v. Barr, 975 F.3d 725, 734 (9th Cir. 2020). We review de

novo questions of law. Garcia-Martinez v. Sessions, 886 F.3d 1291, 1293 (9th Cir.

2018). We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Zehatye

v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir. 2006). We deny the petition for

review.

      The agency did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to terminate,

where petitioners’ contentions regarding their notice to appear are foreclosed by

Aguilar Fermin v. Barr, 958 F.3d 887, 895 (9th Cir. 2020) (“the lack of time, date,

and place in the NTA sent to [petitioner] did not deprive the immigration court of

jurisdiction over her case”).

      Petitioners do not make any argument challenging the agency’s dispositive

determination that they failed to establish nexus to a protected ground. See

Martinez-Serrano v. INS, 94 F.3d 1256, 1259-60 (9th Cir. 1996) (issues not

specifically raised and argued in a party’s opening brief are waived). Thus,

petitioners’ asylum and withholding of removal claims fail.

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

petitioners failed to show it is more likely than not they will be tortured by or with

                                          2                                     20-72474
the consent or acquiescence of the government if returned to Guatemala. See Aden

v. Holder, 589 F.3d 1040, 1047 (9th Cir. 2009).

      We reject as unsupported by the record petitioners’ contentions that the BIA

engaged in improper fact-finding and that the agency ignored evidence or

otherwise erred in its analysis of their claims.

      The temporary stay of removal remains in place until issuance of the

mandate.

      PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

                                           3                                 20-72474