Pedro Rodriguez-Garcia v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Oscar Rodriguez-Vazquez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions pro se 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, Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1056 (9th Cir. 2009), and we review for abuse of discretion the agency’s denial of a motion for a continuance, Sandoval-Luna v. Mukasey, 526 F.3d 1243, 1246 (9th Cir. 2008). We deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports thé agency’s conclusion that Rodriguez-Vazquez failed to establish a nexus between his past mistreatment in the custody of Mexican police and a statutorily protected ground. See Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 740-41 (9th Cir. 2009) (under the REAL ID Act, an applicant must prove a protected ground will be at least “one central reason” for persecution); Lin v. Holder, 610 F.3d 1093, 1097 (9th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) (ordinary prosecution for criminal activity is not persecution “on account of’ a protected ground). Substantial evidence also…