Herrera-Leon

MEMORANDUM **

Oscar Armando Herrera-Leon (“Herrera”), a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order sustaining the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s appeal and denying his application for asylum and withholding of deportation under 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a) and § 1253(h). Because the transitional rules apply, we have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105 (a). Kalaw v. INS, 133 F.3d 1147, 1150 (9th Cir.1997). We review the BIA’s decision for substantial evidence. Ochave v. INS, 254 F.3d 859, 862 (9th Cir.2001). We will uphold the determination unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481, n. 1 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). We deny the petition for review.

The evidence does not compel a finding that Herrera has suffered past persecution. This court has stated that threats alone “constitute past persecution in only a small category of cases” where “the threats are so menacing as to cause significant actual ‘suffering or harm.’ ” Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000) (quoting Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir.1997)). Herrera’s claim of…