Kurivasu

MEMORANDUM **

Lemeki Kurivasu and his wife Miriama Navunisaravi Vakacabeooli, natives and citizens of Fiji, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing their appeal from an immigration judge’s order denying Kurivasu’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence, Kozulin v. INS, 218 F.3d 1112, 1115 (9th Cir.2000), and deny the petition for review.

Substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that Kurivasu did not establish eligibility for asylum. Kurivasu testified that he fled Fiji after his manager at work threatened him for reporting the manager’s human smuggling activities to the authorities. Contrary to Kurivasu’s contention, the evidence does not compel the conclusion that his manager threatened him or would harm him on account of a statutorily protected ground. See id. at 1116-17 . Kurivasu also testified that on various occasions villagers threatened him, told him to leave his village, and once assaulted him on the grounds that he had illegitimate birth status, spoke out against the Fijian…