Brizuela-Salguero

MEMORANDUM **

Ramon E. Brizuela-Salguero, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the final decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal of an immigration judge’s denial of his application for asylum and withholding of deportation. Pursuant to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”), the transitional rules apply, see Kalaw v. INS, 133 F.3d 1147, 1150 (9th Cir.1997), and we therefore have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), see Avetova-Elisseva v. INS, 213 F.3d 1192 , 1195 n. 4 (9th Cir.2000). We review for substantial evidence the BIA’s ineligibility for asylum determination, see Rivera-Moreno v. INS, 213 F.3d 481, 485 (9th Cir.2000), and we deny the petition for review.

Brizuela-Salguero contends that the BIA erred in concluding that he did not establish past persecution. We will reverse the BIA in such cases only where “the evidence not only supports that conclusion, but compels it.” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 & n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (emphasis in original). Even if Brizuela-Salguero suffered past persecution, he did not present evidence to…