Saul Velasco-Orellana v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Saul Herman Velasco-Orellana, a native and citizen of El Salvador,' petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) 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”). Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Gonzalez-Hernandez v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 995, 998 (9th Cir.2003). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

Velasco-Orellana presented evidence that guerrillas randomly attempted to forcibly recruit him to fill their ranks and later threatened him because he had run away. Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s finding that Velasco-Orellana failed to establish past harm or a fear of future harm on account of a protected ground. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-83 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). We lack jurisdiction to consider Velasco-Orellana’s social group claim, because he did not exhaust this contention before the BIA. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 678 (9th Cir.2004) (court lacks…