Julio Velasquez Huanca v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Julio Cesar Velasquez Huanca, a native and citizen of Peru, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, Ochoa v. Gon zales, 406 F.3d 1166, 1169 (9th Cir. 2005), abrogated on other grounds as recognized by Cordoba v. Holder, 726 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2013), and we deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s finding that Velasquez Huanca failed to establish a nexus between the harm he experienced from members of the Shining Path and a protected ground. See Sinha v. Holder, 564 F.3d 1015, 1021 (9th Cir. 2009) (Under pre-REAL ID Act standards, a petitioner must show that his persecutors “were motivated, at least in part, by a protected ground.”) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted); Ochoa, 406 F.3d at 1171-72 (concluding that narco-traffickers targeted petitioner because he owed them money, not because of his imputed political opinion). Substantial evidence also supports the agency’s…