Nataliya Dudkevich v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Nataliya Nikolaevna Dudkevich, a native and citizen of Belarus, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence factual findings, Nagoulko v. INS, 333 F.3d 1012, 1015 (9th Cir.2003), and deny the petition for review.

The record does not compel the conclusion that Dudkevich demonstrated a sufficiently individualized threat of persecution to establish a well-founded fear of persecution. See Lolong v. Gonzales, 484 F.3d 1173, 1181 (9th Cir.2006) (the recurrence of sporadic violence against Chinese Christians in Indonesia was insufficient to demonstrate eligibility for asylum “absent an individualized risk of persecution or a pattern and practice of persecution”). Accordingly, Dudkevich’s asylum claim fails.

Because Dudkevich failed to establish eligibility for asylum, she necessarily failed to meet the higher standard of eligibility for withholding of removal. See Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182,…