Victalino Gonzalez Zacarias v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Victalino Reyes Gonzalez Zacarías, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, applying the new standards governing adverse credibility determinations created by the Real ID Act. Shrestha v. Holder, 590 F.3d 1034, 1039 (9th Cir.2010). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s adverse credibility determination based on Gonzalez Zacarias’s conflicting testimony regarding whether he witnessed his father’s murder and the omission of the murder from his prior asylum application. See id. at 1047 (inability to consistently describe the underlying events that give rise to petitioner’s fear of persecution can support an adverse credibility finding); Zamanov v. Holder, 649 F.3d 969, 973 (9th Cir.2011) (“Material alterations in the applicant’s account of persecution are…