Eleuterio Vicente-Xiloj v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Eleuterio Jorge Vicente-Xiloj, a native and citizen of Guatemala, 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, Kin v. Holder, 595 F.3d 1050, 1054 (9th Cir.2010), and we deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s adverse credibility determination based upon both internal inconsistencies within Vicente-Xiloj’s testimony and on an inconsistency between his testimony and the death certificate he submitted regarding the circumstances of his friend’s death, see Goel v. Gonzales, 490 F.3d 735, 739 (9th Cir.2007) (per curiam) (inconsistencies between testimony and documentary evidence regarding nature of attack and injuries suffered went to the heart of the claim and supported an adverse credibility finding), and the agency reasonably rejected Vicente-Xiloj’s explanations for these discrepancies, see Rivera v. Mukasey, 508 F.3d 1271, 1275 (9th Cir.2007). Accordingly, in…