Mendiolaza Untiveros v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Fredy Mendiolaza Untiveros petitions this court for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of his claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. His petition is denied. Because the facts and proceedings are familiar to the parties they will not be recounted here.

The Immigration Judge (“U”) denied Mendiolaza Untiveros’s petition for asylum because he failed to file it within one year of arriving in the United States. 1 *787 His asylum claim is therefore time-barred. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a)(2)(B); Hakeem v. INS, 273 F.3d 812, 815 (9th Cir.2001). Because the IJ based his decision to deny the claim on the timing of the asylum petition, and not on its merits, this court does not have jurisdiction to review the IJ’s decision with respect to the asylum petition. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a)(3).

We do, however, have jurisdiction to review the IJ’s denial of Mendiolaza Untiveros’s petition for withholding of removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . The IJ’s decision must be affirmed if it is supported by substantial evidence. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992); Wang v. Ashcroft, 341…