Diana Chochua v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Diana Chochua, a native and citizen of Georgia, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, and we review de novo the agency’s legal determinations. Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1056 (9th Cir.2009). We deny the petition for review.

The BIA properly found Chochua failed to establish extraordinary circumstances to excuse the one-year asylum filing deadline. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4 (a)(5); Mutuku v. Holder, 600 F.3d 1210, 1212 (9th Cir.2010) (hope that conditions would improve in home country did not constitute an extraordinary circumstance). Thus, her asylum claim fails.

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s finding that Chochua’s experiences in Georgia did not rise to the level of persecution. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000) (“[t]hreats standing alone, ... constitute past persecution in only a small category of eases, and only when the…