Jose Herrera-Grande v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioners Yeni Menjivar-Hercules and her brother Uriel Menjivar-Hercules, natives and citizens of El Salvador, petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order dismissing their appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying their application for withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the Board’s denial of withholding of removal because petitioners failed to show they were subject to conduct rising to the level of persecution. See Hoxha v. Ashcroft, 319 F.3d 1179, 1182 (9th Cir.2003) (holding unfulfilled threats and an incident of physical violence did not establish past persecution).

Substantial evidence also supports the Board’s denial of withholding of removal because petitioners failed to show that gang members threatened them on account of a protected ground. Their fear of future persecution based on an actual or imputed anti-gang or anti-crime opinion is not on account of the protected ground of either membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Ramos Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir. 2009); Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542…