Maldonado de Leon v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM **

Osman Manfredy Maldonado de Leon (“Maldonado”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (b). We review for substantial evidence and will reverse the BIA’s determination only if the petitioner shows that the evidence compels such a result. Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir.1997). We deny the petition.

*156 Maldonado’s asylum claim is based on a single conversation with two men who identified themselves as military police seeking information about Maldonado’s employer. Maldonado claimed that he subsequently received vague and unfulfilled threats against himself and his family. These incidents do not compel a fact-finder to conclude that Maldonado was persequted. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000) (holding that threats standing alone generally do not constitute past persecution).

Maldonado’s fear of future persecution is not objectively well-founded because he did not adduce “credible, direct, and specific evidence in…