Rios

*727 MEMORANDUM **

Maria Del Rosario Rios, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions pro se for review of the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing her appeal from the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her request for asylum and withholding of deportation under 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a) and § 1253(h). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § llOSafy). 1 We review for substantial evidence the BIA’s adverse credibility determinations 2 and we deny the petition.

To qualify for asylum, an applicant must demonstrate that she is unable or unwilling to return to her home country because she suffered past persecution or has a well founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. 3 An alien’s own testimony, when credible, can be sufficient to establish eligibility for asylum.

The BIA properly dismissed Rios’ appeal because its adverse credibility finding is supported by the record. The facts in Rios’ testimony regarding her husband’s assassination by a political rival were completely absent from and contradicted by her asylum application which stated that she sought…