Gomez
Gomez v. Immigration & Naturalization Service
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM ***
Petitioner Salvador Antonio Gomez petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“U”) denial of his requests for asylum under Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 208(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a), and withholding of de *868 portation pursuant to INA § 243(h), 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h) (repealed 1996). We have jurisdiction under INA § 106(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), and we deny the petition.
Gomez’s deportation proceedings were initiated before April 1, 1997 and the final deportation order was filed after October 30, 1996. The transitional rules of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRI-RA”) therefore govern this case. See IIR-IRA § 309(a), Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-625 (1996); Avetova-Elisseva v. INS, 213 F.3d 1192 , 1195 n. 4 (9th Cir.2000).
Gomez contends that the BIA abused its discretion in failing to find that he qualified for asylum. See Stoyanov v. INS, 149 F.3d 1226, 1227 (9th Cir.1998) (reviewing the BIA’s decision to grant or deny asylum for an abuse of discretion). However, the record supports neither a finding of past persecution nor a fear of…