v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

MEMORANDUM *

William A. Martinez (“Martinez”) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s (“BIA”) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of deportation. We grant the petition for review and remand. Because the facts are familiar to the parties, we recount them only as necessary to explain our decision.

1. The BIA held that Martinez had not established eligibility for asylum because he had not shown a well-founded fear of persecution on account of his political opinion or a political opinion imputed to him. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A) (A person is eligible for asylum if he or she establishes “a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion .... ”). We affirm this holding, because it is supported by substantial evidence. See Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d 955, 961 (9th Cir.1996) (en banc).

The BIA did not, however, address Martinez’s claim that he suffered persecution on account of his membership in a particular social group, namely his family. 2 See Molina-Estrada v. INS, 281 F.3d 906, 912 (9th Cir.2002) (“We have recognized that, in some circumstances, a family…