JHONATAN VASQUEZ-SEGOVIA V. MERRICK GARLAND, No. 18-70623 (9th Cir. 2022)
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED DEC 13 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JHONATAN ANTONIO VASQUEZSEGOVIA, No. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS 18-70623 Agency No. A206-737-059 Petitioner, MEMORANDUM* v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted December 7, 2022** San Francisco, California Before: NGUYEN and SANCHEZ, Circuit Judges, and BOUGH,*** District Judge. * 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). *** The Honorable Stephen R. Bough, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri, sitting by designation. Jhonatan Antonio Vasquez-Segovia, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. Reviewing the agency’s factual findings for substantial evidence and its legal conclusions de novo, see Flores Molina v. Garland, 37 F.4th 626, 632 (9th Cir. 2022), we deny the petition for review. We agree that Vasquez-Segovia’s proposed particular social group, “Salvadorian men taking concrete steps to avoid gang recruitment and gang violence which the government of El Salvador can not and/or is not willing to control,” is not cognizable here. As “concrete steps,” Vasquez-Segovia points to the fact that when gang members tried to recruit him, he “would ignore them and continue on [his] way.” Such ordinary avoidance does not place Vasquez-Segovia in a discrete or socially distinct group. C.f. Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081, 1092 (9th Cir. 2013) (holding that “people who testify against gang members in criminal proceedings” is a cognizable social group); Pirir-Boc v. Holder, 750 F.3d 1077, 1084-85 (9th Cir. 2014) (remanding to the BIA to consider whether a particular social group of “persons taking concrete steps to oppose gang membership and gang authority” was cognizable under Henriquez-Rivas where petitioner assisted brother in defecting from a gang). 2 And substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that VasquezSegovia is not entitled to CAT relief because he has not shown that he is more likely than not to suffer torture in El Salvador. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.17(a). Vasquez-Segovia was not subject to torture in the past. Nor does the record evidence compel a conclusion that the government would acquiesce to gang torture upon his return. PETITION DENIED. 3
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