Benjamin Ortega v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Benjamin Ortega (“Ortega”), a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a), and we deny the petition for review.

Ortega contends that he suffered past persecution in the form of physical abuse by his father when he was a child and has a well-founded fear of future persecution on this basis were he to be removed to El Salvador. “To establish eligibility for asylum, an applicant must demonstrate his or her status as a refugee.” Melkonian v. Ashcroft, 320 F.3d 1061, 1064 (9th Cir.2003) (citing Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir.1997)). On a claim of past persecution committed by a private individual, the applicant bears the burden of showing that the government is unable or unwilling to control the persecutor. See Afriyie v. Holder, 613 F.3d 924, 931 (9th Cir.2010).

Reviewing the Board’s conclusion that Ortega failed to establish past persecution for substantial evidence, Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1060 (9th Cir.2009), we determine that the Board was not…