Mendoza-Matias

MEMORANDUM **

Macario Mendoza-Matias, a citizen and native of Guatemala, petitions for review of the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, which affirmed and substantially adopted the Immigration Judge’s decision denying Mendoza-Matias’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition.

An asylum applicant bears the burden of demonstrating that he is a refugee, in that he is unable or unwilling to return to his country because of “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A) (emphasis added) (defining the term “refugee”); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (b)(l)(B)(i) (placing the burden of proof on the asylum applicant to establish “refugee” status); 8 C.F.R. § 208.13 (a) (same); Deloso v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 858, 863 (9th Cir.2005). Mendoza-Matias has failed to establish that he has been persecuted, or has a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. He claims to have been…