Jose Orellana-Morales v. Michael Mukasey , 407 F. App'x 98 ( 2010 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION DEC 22 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JOSE EFRAIN ORELLANA-MORALES No. 08-71146
and ELSA MARINA SANABRIA-
MAGANA, Agency Nos. A070-812-577
A070-965-079
Petitioners,
v. MEMORANDUM **
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,*
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 14, 2010 ***
Before: GOODWIN, WALLACE and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.
Petitioners Jose Efrain Orellana-Morales and Elsa Marina Sanabria-Magana,
husband and wife and natives and citizens of El Salvador, petition for review of a
*
Eric H. Holder, Jr., is substituted for his predecessor, Michael B.
Mukasey, as Attorney General of the United States. Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2).
**
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
***
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Board of Immigration Appeals order dismissing their appeal from an immigration
judge’s decision denying their application for asylum, withholding of removal and
protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We have jurisdiction
under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We deny the petition for review.
Substantial evidence supports the Board’s denial of asylum and withholding
of removal because petitioners failed to show that Orellana-Morales’s alleged
persecutors were guerillas who targeted him on account of his prior military
service. Mr. Orellana-Morales could not explain why the unidentified men beat
him in his home, other than to suggest they were either former guerillas or an
individual to whom he had sold a car. Ochave v. INS, 254 F.3d 859, 865 (9th Cir.
2001) (“Asylum generally is not available to victims of civil strife, unless they are
singled out on account of a protected ground”); Molina-Morales v. INS, 237 F.3d
1048, 1052 (9th Cir. 2001) (explaining that persecution because of a personal
vendetta is not persecution on account of imputed political opinion).
Substantial evidence also supports the Board’s denial of CAT relief based on
the Board’s finding that petitioners did not establish a likelihood of torture by, at
the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of the El Salvadoran
government. See Arteaga v. Mukasey, 511 F.3d 940, 948-49 (9th Cir. 2007).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
2 08-71146