Opinion
No. 17-73019
06-17-2019
LUCAS LEMUS-GONZALES, AKA Carlos Hacon, AKA Carlos Roberto Hacon, AKA Lucas Lemus-Gonzalez, AKA Carlos Mallen-Laines, AKA Carlos Roberto, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Agency No. A200-681-833 MEMORANDUM On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted June 3, 2019 Portland, Oregon Before: MURGUIA and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and ZIPPS, District Judge.
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 Jennifer G. Zipps, United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, sitting by designation. --------
After Lucas Lemus-Gonzales was placed in removal proceedings and conceded removability, an immigration judge ("IJ") denied Lemus-Gonzales's applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") dismissed Lemus-Gonzales's appeal. We have jurisdiction of this petition for review under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and deny the petition.
1. The IJ did not err in concluding that Lemus-Gonzales's asylum application was untimely. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B). The application describes a continuation of the events that prompted Lemus-Gonzales to leave Guatemala in 2002, but that is merely "[n]ew evidence confirming what [he] already knew . . . [and] does not constitute changed circumstances." Budiono v. Lynch, 837 F.3d 1042, 1047 (9th Cir. 2016). And, Lemus-Gonzales also demonstrated no extraordinary circumstances justifying the approximately ten-year delay in filing his application. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(D).
2. Substantial evidence supports the conclusion that Lemus-Gonzales failed to demonstrate a nexus between any alleged persecution by a gang and his family social group. See 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A). The IJ's conclusion that family membership was irrelevant to the gang's pecuniary and personal motivations was supported by substantial evidence. Substantial evidence supports the IJ's conclusion that Lemus-Gonzales was the victim of "harassment by criminals motivated by theft," which "bears no nexus to a protected ground." Zetino v. Holder, 622 F.3d 1007, 1016 (9th Cir. 2010); see also Molina-Morales v. INS, 237 F.3d 1048, 1052 (9th Cir. 2001) ("[P]urely personal retribution is, of course, not persecution on account of [a protected ground].") (quoting Grava v. INS, 205 F.3d 1177, 1181 n.3 (9th Cir. 2000)).
3. Substantial evidence supports the IJ's conclusion that Lemus-Gonzales did not demonstrate it is more likely than not that he would be tortured if returned to Guatemala. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(2). Any past mistreatment did not arise to the level of torture and the threat of future robberies "does not provide a sufficient basis to conclude that any harm . . . would rise to the level of torture." Lopez v. Sessions, 901 F.3d 1071, 1078 (9th Cir. 2018).
PETITION DENIED