Habib Braimah v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Edel Naun-Zuniga, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir.2006), and we deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s conclusion that Naun-Zuniga failed to establish past persecution or an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground, because he did not demonstrate that his attacker was or would be motivated by more than a desire to prevent Naun-Zuniga from avenging his brother’s death. See Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 740 (9th Cir.2009) C‘[t]he REAL ID Act requires that a protected ground represent ‘one central reason’ for an asylum applicant’s persecution”); Molina-Morales v. INS, 237 F.3d 1048, 1052 (9th Cir.2001) (personal retribution is not persecution on account of a protected ground).…