Raul Morales Cortez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Raul Morales Cortez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, and Maria Reyna Vela-dor Barba, a native and citizen of Mexico, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing their appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying their application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings. Kotasz v. INS, 31 F.3d 847, 851 (9th Cir. 1994). We deny in part and grant in part the petition for review, and we remand.

The BIA found that Morales Cortez failed to show his kidnapping and the later incident with guerrillas occurred on account of a protected ground. With respect to the kidnapping, the record does not compel a different conclusion. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (“[t]o reverse the BIA finding we must find that the evidence not only supports that conclusion, but compels it”) (emphasis in original).

However, with respect to the later incident, Morales Cortez provided evidence that after he stopped serving in the civil patrol, guerrillas came looking for him,…