Edgardo Antonio Lopez Salazar v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Edgardo Antonio Lopez Salazar, a native and citizen of El Salvador, 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, 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 determination that the threatened kid-naping at Lopez’s school and the disturbance at his grandmother’s house, even considered cumulatively and viewed from Lopez’s perspective as a child, do not rise to the level of past persecution. See Hoxha v. Ashcroft, 319 F.3d 1179, 1182 (9th Cir.2003) (unfulfilled threats “constitute harassment rather than persecution”); see also Hernandez-Ortiz v. Gonzales, 496 F.3d 1042, 1046 (9th Cir.2007). Accordingly, because the BIA determined that Lopez failed to establish past persecution, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in rejecting his claim for humanitarian asylum. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13…