Jacobo Ventura v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Jacobo De Jesus Ventura petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the denial of Ventura’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) and relief under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (“NACARA”). We have jurisdiction to review final orders of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny the petition for review.

The facts of this case are known to the parties. We do not repeat them.

We review the BIA’s factual findings for substantial evidence and its legal conclusions de novo. See Benyamin v. Holder, 579 F.3d 970, 974 (9th Cir.2009). Because the BIA conducted its own review of these claims, we review only the BIA’s decision, except to the extent the BIA expressly adopted the IJ’s decision. See Chawla v. Holder, 599 F.3d 998, 1001 (9th Cir.2010).

To qualify for asylum, Ventura must show that he is a “refugee.” See 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a). A refugee is a person who “is unable or unwilling to return to” his or her home country “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in…