Blanca Ramirez Tista v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Blanca Odilia Ramirez Tista and her son Abelardo Aguilar Ramrirez, natives and citizens of Guatemala, petition for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing their appeal from the immigration judge’s denial of their applications for asylum and withholding of removal.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that petitioners did not establish past persecution based on petitioners being attacked and robbed by gang members because they failed to allege any nexus between the harm they suffered and one of the statutorily protected grounds. See Zetino v. Holder, 622 F.3d 1007, 1016 (9th Cir.2010) (“[a]n alien’s desire to be free from harassment by criminals motivated by theft or random violence by gang members bears no nexus to a protected ground.”); Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1489 (9th Cir.1997) (a petitioner cannot establish a nexus to a protected ground by inference unless the inference is clear). Accordingly, because petitioners failed to demonstrate past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground, we deny the petition for review as to their asylum and withholding of removal…