Maria Gramajo-Santos v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Maria Silva Gramajo-Santos, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying her application for asylum and withholding of removal. Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review de novo questions of law and for substantial evidence factual findings. See Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1056 (9th Cir.2009). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that Gramajo-San-tos failed to establish harm rising to the level of persecution. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936-37 (9th Cir.2000) (mail and telephone death threats to petitioner on NPA death list did not compel a finding of past persecution). Substantial evidence also supports the agency’s conclusion that Gramajo-Santos failed to establish that the guerrillas pursued her on account of a protected ground, see INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), and did not establish any connection to the incidents of harm her family members experienced, see Wakkary, 558…