Walter Arango-Hernandez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Walter Arango-Hernandez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for withholding of removal and denying his motion to remand. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the Board’s denial of withholding of removal because Arango-Hernandez failed to show his alleged persecutors threatened him on account of a protected ground. His fear of future persecution based on an actual or imputed anti-gang or anti-crime opinion is not on account of the protected ground of either membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Ramos Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir.2009); Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 745-46 (9th Cir.2008); see Ochave v. INS, 254 F.3d 859, 865 (9th Cir.2001) (“Asylum generally is not available to victims of civil strife, unless they are singled out on account of a protected ground.”)

The Board did not abuse its discretion in denying Arango-Hernandez’s motion to remand when he offered no evidence that he was targeted on…