Orozco-Vasquez

MEMORANDUM **

Gustavo Adolfo Orozco-Vasquez (“Or-ozco”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decisions denying, in relevant part, Orozco’s application for asylum and his motion for reconsideration. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 .

The BIA adopted and affirmed the IJ’s decision, citing Matter of Burbano, 20 I. & N. Dec. 872, 874 (BIA 1994). We therefore review the IJ’s decision as if it were the decision of the BIA. See Abebe v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 1037, 1040-41 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc). In this case, the BIA’s order included additional comments, which are also reviewed.

The IJ assumed that Orozco had established past persecution but denied asylum *84 on the grounds of changed country conditions. Assuming that Orozco had shown past, persecution, he would enjoy a presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution and the government would bear the burden of establishing changed country conditions rebutting this presumption. See Tarubac v. I.N.S., 182 F.3d 1114, 1119-20 (9th Cir.1999). The IJ erred as a matter of law when she assumed that…