Tomuta

MEMORANDUM **

Gruia Tomuta, a native and citizen of Romania, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying Tomuta’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review the agency’s factual findings for substantial evidence, and reverse only if the evidence compels a contrary finding. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). We deny the petition for review.

Tomuta testified that he was harassed and humiliated on account of his Pentecostal beliefs during his one-year mandatory military service in Romania, that he lived without incident for two years after his discharge from the military, and that he came to the United States in search of a better life. The agency determined that Tomuta failed to establish past persecution or a well founded fear of future persecution, and the record does not compel a contrary finding. See Halaim v. INS, 358 F.3d 1128, 1132 (9th Cir.2004) (stating that “[pjersecution is an extreme concept that does not include…