Garo Gulesserian v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Garo Krikor Gulesserian, a native and citizen of Lebanon, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ 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 have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Cordoba v. Holder, 726 F.3d 1106, 1113 (9th Cir.2013). We review de novo claims of due process violations in deportation proceedings. Colmenar v. INS, 210 F.3d 967, 971 (9th Cir.2000). We deny the petition for review.

The record does not compel the conclusion that a protected ground was one central reason behind the assault, kidnapping and extortion that Gulesserian suffered in Lebanon. See Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 741 (9th Cir.2009) (“to demonstrate that a protected ground was ‘at least one central reason’ for the persecution, an applicant must prove that such ground was a cause of the persecutors’ acts”); Donchev v. Mukasey, 553 F.3d 1206, 1213 (9th Cir.2009) (evidence does not “compel the opposite conclusion just because it would also support a…