Vilma Cordova Garcia v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

The parties are familiar with the facts of the case so we do not repeat them here. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(1) and we deny the petitions for review.

The petitions must be denied if the IJ and BIA determinations are “supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In order to qualify for asylum or withholding of removal, a petitioner must demonstrate that a protected ground was, or will be, “at least one central reason” for his or her persecution. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (b)(l)(B)(i). In Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 741 (9th Cir.2009), we interpreted the recently enacted REAL-ID Act of 2005 and held that in order to “demonstrate that a protected ground was ‘at least one central reason’ for persecution, an applicant must prove that such ground was a cause of the persecutors’ acts.”

Here, as in Parussimova , “it is simply not clear whether [a protected ground], as opposed to one of the other possible motives evinced by the record, caused the assailant[ ] to…