Juan Delgado-Lorenzo v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Juan Carlos Delgado-Lorenzo, 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 asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We dismiss in part and deny in part the petition for review.

We lack jurisdiction to review the Board’s discretionary determination that petitioner failed to show exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his U.S. citizen child. 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(2)(B); Mendez-Castro v. Mukasey, 552 F.3d 975, 979 (9th Cir.2009).

Substantial evidence supports the Board’s denial of asylum and withholding of removal because petitioner failed to show that the guerillas’ attempt to recruit him was on account of a protected ground. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481-82 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (holding that forced recruitment alone is not enough to show persecution on account of political opinion). Because the Board properly denied relief for lack of a nexus, we need not address petitioner’s contention that he…