Domingo Matias, Petitioner, v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Respondent, 141 F.3d 1177 (9th Cir. 1998)

MEMORANDUM^* 

Domingo Matias, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) dismissal of his appeal from the immigration judge's (IJ) denial of his applications for asylum and withholding of deportation under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(a) and 1253(h). He contends that he established past persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution by anti-government guerrillas on account of his progovernment opinion and his membership in the Christian Democratic Party. We deny the petition for review.

To establish eligibility for asylum, an applicant must show that he is unwilling to return to his country of origin because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion or other listed grounds. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a) (42) (A).

In his application for asylum, Matias stated that the authorities persecuted him because they thought he was a guerrilla. At his asylum hearing, however, he testified that it was the guerrillas who persecuted him. The IJ found that this testimony was not credible, and Matias did not present any other corroborating evidence. Substantial evidence supports this credibility determination, see de Leon Barrios v. INS, 116 F.3d 391, 393 (9th Cir. 1997), and the BIA's and IJ's resulting conclusion that Matias failed to establish eligibility for asylum, see Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir. 1997). Accordingly, we deny the petition for review.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.