Quinonez-Colop

MEMORANDUM ***

Ronaldo Quinonez-Colop (“Quinonez-Colop”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“Board”) decision denying his application for asylum and withholding of deportation. Quinonez-Colop also seeks to be “repapered.” Quinonez-Colop contends that substantial evidence does not support the Board’s finding that he did not establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution “on account of’ his political opinion. Because the record does not show that Quinonez-Colop’s alleged persecution was “on account of’ a political belief, we affirm the Board’s dismissal of the asylum and withholding application.

To be eligible for asylum, an applicant must show that he is “unwilling or unable” to return to his home country “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1991).

Quinonez-Colop argues that he was eligible for asylum on account of an imputed political opinion—the political opinion of neutrality…