Abdul-Karim

MEMORANDUM ***

Mohamad Abdul-Karim, a native and citizen of Lebanon, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) summarily affirming the denial of his asylum and withholding of removal application. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and review for substantial evidence the Immigration Judge’s factual determinations concerning Abdul-Karim’s eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 & n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). Because Abdul-Karim’s evidence would not compel any reasonable adjudicator to conclude that he was eligible for asylum or withholding of removal, 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (b)(4)(B), we uphold the Immigration Judge’s factual determinations and deny the petition.

Substantial evidence supports the Immigration Judge’s denial of Abdul-Karim’s application for lack of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of his membership in the particular social group, Lebanese homosexual men. The Immigration Judge cited both Abdul-Karim’s failure of proof, see 8 C.F.R. § 208.13 (a), as well as the State Department’s 1998 advisory opinion that prohibitions against homosexuality…