Eswin Lopez-De Leon v. John Ashcroft

174 F. App'x 352

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: April 4, 2006
• Docket: 04-1319
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Guatemalan citizen Eswin Marco Lopez-De Leon (Leon) petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, which summarily affirmed an Immigration Judge’s (IJ’s) denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). 2

After careful review of the record, we conclude the IJ’s decision, that Leon failed to establish either past persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of a protected ground, is supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. See Menendez-Donis v. Ashcroft, 360 F.3d 915, 917-19 (8th Cir.2004) (standard of review). Further, because Leon failed to meet the burden of proof on his asylum claim, his application for withholding of removal necessarily fails as well, see Turay v. Ashcroft, 405 F.3d 663, 667 (8th Cir.2005) (withholding-of-removal standard is more rigorous than asylum standard), and we see no basis in the record for CAT relief, see Habtemicael v. Ashcroft, 370 F.3d 774, 780-82 (8th Cir.2004) (discussing considerations relevant to relief under CAT).

Accordingly, we deny the petition.

2 . The IJ’s decision, therefore, constitutes the final agency determination for purposes of judicial review. See Dominguez v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 678, 679 n. 1 (8th Cir.2003).