Marcos Aguilar-Rodriguez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Marcos Antonio Aguilar-Rodriguez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We review for substantial evidence factual findings, and review de novo questions of law. Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir.2006). We deny in part and grant in part, the petition for review and we remand.

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s denial of CAT relief because Aguilar-Rodriguez failed to show it is more likely than not he will be tortured with the consent or acquiescence of the Salvadoran government. See Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 747-48 (9th Cir.2008).

The agency determined Aguilar-Rodriguez had not met the nexus requirement for withholding of removal. When the IJ and BIA issued their decisions they did not have the benefit of either this court’s decisions in Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir.2013) (en banc), and Cordoba v. Holder, 726 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir.2013), or the BIA’s decisions in…