Arevalo-Ramos v. Garland ( 2023 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS DEC 11 2023
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
CARLA PATRICIA AREVALO-RAMOS, No. 22-202
Agency No.
Petitioner, A206-629-049
v.
MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 6, 2023**
Portland, Oregon
Before: BERZON, NGUYEN, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.
Carla Patricia Arevalo-Ramos (“Arevalo-Ramos”), a native citizen of
Honduras, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals
(“BIA”) dismissing her appeal of the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of asylum
*
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).
and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252.
Reviewing the agency’s factual findings for substantial evidence and its legal
conclusions de novo, see Flores Molina v. Garland, 37 F.4th 626, 632 (9th Cir.
2022), we deny the petition for review.
The IJ denied asylum and withholding of removal relief because of the
possibility of relocation within Honduras, among other reasons. The BIA decision
dismissing Arevalo-Ramos’ appeal of the IJ’s denial of asylum and withholding of
removal rested exclusively on the possibility of relocation, concluding that she
“did not establish that she faces a risk of persecution countrywide.” But Arevalo-
Ramos did not provide any arguments in her opening brief before this court
regarding relocation. In particular, she did not argue that she had established past
persecution, such that the BIA should have placed the burden of establishing that
internal relocation was possible or reasonable on the government. See Kaur v.
Wilkinson, 986 F.3d 1216, 1231 (9th Cir. 2021).1 Because “[i]ssues raised in a brief
that are not supported by argument are deemed abandoned,” Martinez-Serrano v.
I.N.S., 94 F.3d 1256, 1259 (9th Cir. 1996), Arevalo-Ramos has abandoned a
challenge to the BIA decision’s sole basis for dismissing her appeal of the IJ’s
denial of relief.
1
Arevalo-Ramos’s brief appears to recognize that she did not establish past
persecution.
2
PETITION DENIED.
3