Ana Morales-Escamilla v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Ana Ruth Morales-Escamilla, a native and citizen of El Salvador, 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. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . • We review for substantial evidence factual findings. 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 agency’s determination that Morales-Escamilla did not suffer past persecution in El Salvador. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000) (“Threats ... constitute past persecution in only a small category of cases, and only when the threats are so menacing as to cause significant actual suffering or harm.”) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

The agency also found Morales-Escamil-la failed to establish a fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground. When the IJ and BIA issued their decisions in this case, they did not have the benefit of this court’s decisions in Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th…