Cortez

MEMORANDUM **

Baltazar Cortez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of a final order of deportation issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denying his applications for asylum and withholding of deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) §§ 208 and 243(h), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 ,1253(h) and reinstating a period of voluntary departure. The Immigration Judge denied Cortez’s applications for asylum and withholding of deportation, and he was granted voluntary departure. Cortez timely appealed the Immigration Judge’s decision. Although the BIA overturned the Immigration Judge’s adverse credibility determination, it concluded that Cortez demonstrated neither past persecution nor future persecution. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) section 309(c), because Cortez timely filed his petition for review once the BIA mailed its decision to the correct address. We review the BIA decision under the substantial evidence standard, INS v. Elias-Zaca-rias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), and we deny the…