Court Opinion

ID: 9964324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-29 18:00:50.869713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:18.965789
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                          FILED
                      UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       APR 29 2024

                             FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                        U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

VICTOR MANUEL TEJADA-MEMBRENO;                       No. 22-738
JESSE MANUEL TEJADA-DUBON,
                                                     Agency Nos. A209-435-870
                  Petitioners,                                   A209-435-871
    v.
                                                     MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,
                  Respondent.

                       On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                           Board of Immigration Appeals
                                 Submitted March 4, 2024**
                                    Las Vegas, Nevada
Before: M. SMITH, BENNETT, and COLLINS, Circuit Judges.

         Petitioners Victor Manuel Tejada-Membreno and his minor son, Jesse

Manuel Tejada-Dubon, both citizens of Honduras, petition for review of a decision

by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) upholding a decision of an

Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying their applications for asylum and withholding of

removal.1 We have jurisdiction under § 242 of the Immigration and Nationality

*
  This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as
provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
   The panel unanimously concludes that this case is suitable for decision without
oral argument. See FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
1
  Tejada-Dubon filed a separate application based on the same underlying factual
contentions as in his father’s application. He is also a derivative beneficiary of his
Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review the agency’s legal conclusions de novo and its

factual findings for substantial evidence. See Davila v. Barr, 968 F.3d 1136, 1141

(9th Cir. 2020). Under the latter standard, the “administrative findings of fact are

conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to

the contrary.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B). We deny the petition.

      Even assuming, without deciding, that Petitioners have established past harm

rising to the level of persecution, the agency properly concluded that Petitioners

failed to show the requisite nexus between their past or feared persecution and their

asserted membership in their proposed social group (“Hondurans imputed to have

reported crimes to the police”). The BIA held that, even assuming that Petitioners’

proposed social group was cognizable, the retaliation they experienced was due to

“purely personal retribution” rather than to a social-group-based motivation. In

their brief in this court, Petitioners largely ignore this distinction and this ruling,

because they never even mention the BIA’s holding concerning the motivations of

their alleged persecutors, much less explain why it is not supported by substantial

evidence. At most, Petitioners rely on conclusory assertions that the nexus

requirement was satisfied here. Because in our view substantial evidence supports

the agency’s determination that the retaliation was purely personal in nature, we

father’s asylum application. See Ali v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 780, 782 n.1 (9th Cir.
2005) (stating that, unlike asylum, derivative relief is not available with respect to
withholding of removal).

                                            2
uphold its conclusion that Petitioners failed to establish nexus. On that basis, we

conclude that the agency properly denied Petitioners’ requests for asylum and

withholding of removal. Umana-Escobar v. Garland, 69 F.4th 544, 551 (9th Cir.

2023) (“A nexus between the harm and a protected ground is a necessary element

of asylum and withholding of removal.”).

      PETITION DENIED.

                                          3