De Jesus v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

MEMORANDUM

Carmelita Punzalan De Jesus, a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) dismissal of her appeal from an immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of her application for asylum and withholding of deportation. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a) because the new provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 does not apply to De Jesus whose deportation proceedings commenced before April 1, 1997. We deny the petition.

Because the BIA conducted its own review of the record, we review the decision of the BIA under the substantial evidence standard. See Singh v. INS, 134 F.3d 962, 966 (9th Cir.1998). We uphold the BIA’s decision unless the evidence compels a con *628 trary result. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s determination that De Jesus failed to establish past persecution on account of political opinion. She was not touched, robbed, imprisoned, forcibly recruited, detained, interrupted, or trespassed upon. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000). We need not…