Denis Castro-Martinez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Denis Martin Castro-Martinez, a native and citizen of Nicaragua, petitions pro se 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 protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence, Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1056 (9th Cir. 2009), and we deny the petition for review.

In his opening brief, Castro-Martinez fails to raise any challenge to the agency’s dispositive determination that his asylum application was time-barred. See Rizk v. Holder, 629 F.3d 1088 , 1091 n. 3 (9th Cir. 2011) (a petitioner waives an issue by failing to raise it in the opening brief). Accordingly, his asylum claim fails.

Castro-Martinez testified to problems family members had with the Sandinistas twenty-five years previously. The agency found that Castro-Martinez failed to establish past persecution. The record does not compel a contrary conclusion. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (to reverse the agency’s finding “we must find that…