Jorge Alcala-Sanchez v. William Barr

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: August 22, 2019
• Docket: 16-71754
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 22 2019 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JORGE ALCALA-SANCHEZ, No. 16-71754

Petitioner, Agency No. A200-827-036

v. MEMORANDUM* WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General,

Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Submitted August 7, 2019**

Before: THOMAS, Chief Judge, HAWKINS and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

Jorge Alcala-Sanchez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for review of

the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing Alcala-Sanchez’s

appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying Alcala-Sanchez’s

application for asylum and withholding of removal. Our jurisdiction is governed

by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), and we deny the petition.

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). We review de novo questions of law, Cerezo v. Mukasey, 512 F.3d 1163,

1166 (9th Cir. 2008), and we review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual

findings, Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir. 2006).

The BIA did not err in finding that Alcala-Sanchez did not establish

membership in a cognizable social group. See Reyes v. Lynch, 842 F.3d 1125,

1131 (9th Cir. 2016) (in order to demonstrate membership in a particular group,

“[t]he applicant must ‘establish that the group is (1) composed of members who

share a common immutable characteristic, (2) defined with particularity, and (3)

socially distinct within the society in question’” (quoting Matter of M-E-V-G-, 26

I. & N. Dec. 227, 237 (BIA 2014))); see also Barbosa v. Barr, 919 F.3d 1169,

1175 (9th Cir. 2019) (applying case law in which similar social groups were

proposed and finding that individuals returning to Mexico from the United States

who are believed to be wealthy does not constitute a particular social group).

Thus, Alcala-Sanchez’s asylum and withholding of removal claims fail.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

2 16-71754