Blanca Pangan-Gonzalez De Ruiz v. Merrick Garland


NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FEB 28 2023 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT BLANCA LUBIA PANGAN GONZALEZ No. 18-70265 DE RUIZ; et al., Agency Nos. A208-742-060 Petitioners, A208-742-061 A206-806-289 v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney MEMORANDUM* General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted February 21, 2023** Before: OWENS, LEE, and BUMATAY, Circuit Judges. Blanca Lubia Pangan Gonzalez de Ruiz, her daughter, Blanca Yesenia Ruiz Pangan, and her son, Riwaldo De Jesus Ruiz Pangan, petition for review from the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of their applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and * 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 protection (“CAT”). Petitioners are natives and citizens of Guatemala. Blanca Yesenia is a derivative on Blanca Lubia’s application, and Riwaldo’s application was consolidated with his mother’s. The BIA denied their applications because they did not show a well-founded fear of persecution or that the Guatemalan authorities would be unable or unwilling to control their persecutor. As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them here. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and deny the petition for review. We review the BIA’s factual findings for substantial evidence. Bringas- Rodriguez v. Sessions, 850 F.3d 1051, 1059 (9th Cir. 2017) (en banc). Under this standard, the agency’s action should be upheld unless “any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.” Id. (citation omitted). 1. To qualify for asylum or withholding of removal, the petitioner must show, among other things, past persecution or a fear of future persecution committed by the government or “forces that the government was [or is] unable or unwilling to control.” Velasquez-Gaspar v. Barr, 976 F.3d 1062, 1064 (9th Cir. 2020) (citation omitted). Where the persecutor is not affiliated with the government, we examine “all relevant evidence in the record” to determine if the government is unable or unwilling to control the persecutor. Bringas-Rodriguez, 850 F.3d at 1069 (citation omitted). 2 Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s holding “that the record does not establish that the authorities would be unable or unwilling to protect” petitioners. In the over two decades during which Blanca Lubia was living with her abusive and alcoholic husband, it appears that she reported his beatings to the police only once. On that occasion, the police immediately returned with her to her home in the middle of the night and arrested her husband for drunkenness. He was released the next day and was not charged. While the record is arguably unclear on this point, both the IJ and BIA found that Blanca Lubia did not make any further police reports because, according to her testimony, her husband threatened …

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