Punsalan
Punsalan v. Ashcroft
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Victor Pascual Punsalan (“Punsalan”), a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) summary affirmance of the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a. We review for substantial evidence the IJ’s conclusions that Punsalan firmly resettled in a third country, barring him from seeking asylum in the United States, see Andriasian v. INS, 180 F.3d 1033, 1040 (9th Cir.1999), and that Punsalan was not entitled to withholding of removal. See Bellout v. Ashcroft, 363 F.3d 975, 977-78 (9th Cir.2004); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (b)(2)(A)(vi); 8 C.F.R. 1208.15.
Because Punsalan’s testimony indicated that he lived undisturbed in a third country for a significant duration prior to applying for asylum in the United States, the government established a rebuttable presumption that he had firmly resettled elsewhere. See Cheo v. INS, 162 F.3d 1227, 1229-30 (9th Cir.1998). Punsalan did not rebut this presumption. See 8 C.F.R. 1208.15(a) or (b). He is therefore barred from seeking asylum in the United States.