Hermongenes Cubangbang Ramos v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Hermongenes Cubangbang Ramos, Jr. petitions for review of the denial by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny review.

To grant review, we would need to find that “the evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion [to that reached by the BIA], but compels it.” Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir.1997); see also INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (asserting that the petitioner must show “that the evidence [the petitioner] presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution”).

With regard to asylum, the BIA determined that Ramos did not establish either past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution. Our precedents “characterize! ] persecution as an extreme concept, marked by the infliction of suffering or harm ... in a way regarded as offensive.” Li v. Ashcroft, 356 F.3d 1153, 1158 (9th Cir.2004) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original). The cases cited by the BIA to support its conclusion…