Goenawan

MEMORANDUM **

Pythias Goenawan, native and citizen of Indonesia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration’s (“BIA”) affirmance of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal and the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and we grant the petition for review in part.

The decision of both the IJ and the BIA are subject to the review of this Court. First, the Court must review the decision of the IJ to determine whether the BIA’s deference to the IJ’s conclusions was appropriate. See Molina-Estrada v. INS, 293 F.3d 1089, 1093 (9th Cir.2002). Second, the Court must review the BIA’s decision, which specifically found that Goenawan failed to meet his burden of proving “changed country conditions in Indonesia.” See Kataria v. INS, 232 F.3d 1107, 1112 (9th Cir.2000) (‘Where ... the BIA adopts the IJ’s decision while adding its own reasons, we review both decisions.”)

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion that Goenawan did not suffer past persecution on account of his ethnicity or religion in Indonesia. The IJ correctly observed that Goenawan was not harmed in Indonesia. It…