Melendez-Orellana

MEMORANDUM **

Julio Cesar Melendez-Orellana (Melendez) petitions for review of the decision of the Bureau of Immigration (BIA) affirming the decision of the Immigration Judge denying Melendez’s application for asylum and withholding of removal. Melendez seeks asylum and withholding of removal based upon his claim that he suffered past persecution and that he presumptively has a well-founded fear of future persecution if he were removed to El Salvador.

The Immigration Judge failed to apply the relevant facts in the State Department reports to the specific threat faced by Melendez if returned to El Salvador. See Marcos v. Gonzales, 410 F.3d 1112, 1120-1121 (9th Cir.2005). The Immigration Judge did not analyze the changed conditions in State Department reports on an individualized basis to Melendez nor state how these changed conditions rebutted *811 Melendez’s specific grounds for his well-founded fear of future persecution. See Rios v. Ashcroft, 287 F.3d 895, 901 (9th Cir.2002), citing Ernesto Navas v. I.N.S., 217 F.3d 646, 662 (9th Cir.2000). Failure to conduct this requisite individualized analysis constitutes an abuse of discretion by the Immigration Judge and requires remand.…