NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUN 10 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ANA ELIZABETH MENDEZ-DE No. 20-70523 MENDEZ; et al., Agency Nos. A099-466-665 Petitioners, A208-452-463 A208-452-464 v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney MEMORANDUM* General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted June 1, 2022** Before: FRIEDLAND, SANCHEZ, and H. THOMAS, Circuit Judges Ana Elizabeth Mendez-De Mendez, and her two sons, natives and citizens of El Salvador, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing their appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying their applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the * 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). Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review de novo questions of law, including due process challenges. Young Sun Shin v. Mukasey, 547 F.3d 1019, 1023 (9th Cir. 2008) (citation omitted). We deny the petition for review. In their counseled opening brief, petitioners argue that the BIA erred in adopting the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. This argument is unavailing because the BIA expressly presumed petitioners credible and denied their applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under CAT on the merits. Petitioners have waived any challenges to the BIA’s dispositive merits determinations by failing to raise them in the opening brief, and their asylum, withholding, and CAT claims therefore fail. See Martinez-Serrano v. INS, 94 F.3d 1256, 1259-60 (9th Cir. 1996) (issues not specifically raised and argued in a party’s opening brief are waived). PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED. 2 20-70523 20-70523 Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ca9 9th Cir. Ana Mendez-De Mendez v. Merrick Garland 10 June 2022 Agency Unpublished f89b523d5bb176f53fe29a9212ad947d34a4c360
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