Tomas Pelico-Hernandez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Tomas Pelico-Hernandez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) 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 the agency’s factual findings and we review de novo the agency’s legal determinations. Wakkary v. Holder, 558 F.3d 1049, 1056 (9th Cir.2009). We deny the petition for review.

The record does not compel the conclusion that Pelico-Hernandez established extraordinary circumstances to excuse his untimely application for asylum. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4 (a)(5). Accordingly, we deny the petition as to Pelico-Hernandez’s asylum claim.

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s finding that Pelico-Hernandez failed to establish the guerillas’ actions in Guatemala were motivated by either his actual or imputed political opinion, or by his indigenous ethnicity. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992); Parussimova v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 734, 740 (9th…