Gurung

MEMORANDUM

Ganesh Gurung, a native and citizen of Nepal, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision denying his asylum application. We deny the petition.

Gurung failed to establish that he was persecuted on account of imputed political opinion. He testified that he refused to cooperate with Maoist guerrillas who demanded money from him, but he provided no evidence that he expressed opposition to the Maoists’ cause or that they considered him a political opponent. Under I.N.S. v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), a bare refusal to cooperate with a guerrilla group is not sufficient to establish persecution on the basis of political opinion.

Gurung has also failed to show that he was persecuted on the basis of his membership in the particular social group of successful businessmen in Nepal. For purposes of the asylum statute, a social group must be defined with particularity and be “generally ... recognizable to others.” Arteaga v. Mukasey, 511 F.3d 940, 945 (9th Cir.2007); Ochoa v. Gonzales, 406 F.3d 1166, 1170-71 (9th Cir.2005). Gurung has not defined the boundaries of the “successful businessmen” group or…