Aventurado

MEMORANDUM **

Gloria Mojica Aventurado petitions for review of the denial of her applications for asylum and withholding of removal. Since the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed the decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ) without opinion, we review the IJ’s decision as the final agency determination. See Garcia-Martinez v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 1066, 1074 (9th Cir.2004). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we review for substantial evidence. Alvarez-Santos v. INS, 332 F.3d 1245, 1254 (9th Cir.2003).

The IJ denied Aventurado’s applications on the basis of an adverse credibility finding, but also made an alternative finding that even if Aventurado were credible, she had not established eligibility for asylum. The IJ based this latter alternative holding in part on the conclusion that Aventurado could avoid future mistreatment by living outside the small town where she was persecuted. Though the IJ’s adverse credibility determination is unsupported by the record, we agree that Aventurado’s prima facie eligibility for asylum was rebutted by evidence that her persecution was limited to her small home town, and that she experienced no mistreatment while she lived in…