Rafik Mnatsakanyan v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Rafik Mnatsakanyan, a native of Iran and a citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the 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”). We review for substantial evidence the agency’s findings of fact, Silaya v. Mukasey, 524 F.3d 1066, 1070 (9th Cir. 2008), and we deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that Mnatsaka-nyan failed to establish his and his brother’s Iranian birth was one central reason for any past mistreatment he suffered in Armenia or for his brother’s death. See Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 740 (9th Cir. 2009) (the REAL ID Act “requires that a protected ground represent ‘one central reason’ for an asylum applicant’s persecution”). Substantial evidence also supports the agency’s determination that Mnatsakanyan failed to establish an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution on account of his Iranian birth or his ties to the United States. See Nagoulko v. INS, 333 F.3d 1012, 1018 (9th Cir. 2003) (possibility of future…