Gomez-Cedano

MEMORANDUM **

Hilario Gomez-Cedano, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ summary affirmance of an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the IJ’s adverse credibility finding. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1139, 1143 (9th Cir.2004). We deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the IJ’s adverse credibility finding. In Gomez-Cedano’s initial asylum application, he claimed that he was abducted, beaten, and tortured because of his affiliation with the minority political party. By the time of the hearing, however, Gomez-Cedano asserted only a generalized fear stemming from the murders of two local businessmen; he denied that he was ever beaten or tortured in Mexico. Gomez-Cedano insists that someone else filled out his asylum application and that he did not know its contents until the asylum interview. But at that interview, Gomez-Cedano reiterated that he was beaten and tortured on account of his political involvement. Such inconsistencies strike at the heart of his asylum claim.…