Hernandez-Perez

MEMORANDUM *

Hector Antonio Hernandez-Perez filed an application for asylum. An Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denied his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture, but granted petitioner voluntary departure. The IJ emphasized that Mr. Hernandez-Perez “was not harmed [and] was not even threatened while he was [in Guatemala],” but noted that if a well-founded fear of persecution had been established, “I would have granted his application as a matter of discretion.”

The BIA affirmed the IJ in all respects. As the parties are familiar with the facts, we discuss only those necessary to our analysis.

I

We agree with the BIA’s conclusions on Mr. Hernandez-Perez’s past persecution claim. See 8 C.F.R. 208.13(b)(1). Petitioner has not shown that he was persecuted. Unlike his murdered brother and missing father, Mr. Hernandez-Perez was not in the Guatemalan civil patrol and was never harmed. He testified that he never “personally” was threatened by the military. In these circumstances, we find no past persecution, defined as “the infliction of suffering or harm upon those who differ (in race, religion or political opinion) in a way…