NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 11 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT DENNIS OMAR LARA ARGUETO, No. 16-74034 Petitioner, Agency No. A098-655-880 v. MEMORANDUM* MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted July 6, 2022** Honolulu, Hawaii Before: WARDLAW, NGUYEN, and OWENS, Circuit Judges. Dennis Omar Lara Argueto (“Lara”), a native and citizen of Honduras, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision dismissing his appeal of the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his applications for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention * 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). Against Torture (“CAT”). “Where the BIA writes its own decision, as it did here, we review the BIA’s decision, except to the extent it expressly adopts the IJ’s decision.” Diaz-Reynoso v. Barr, 968 F.3d 1070, 1075-76 (9th Cir. 2020). “We review for substantial evidence the BIA’s factual findings, which should be upheld unless the evidence compels a contrary result.” Id. at 1076 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them here. We deny the petition. 1. To qualify for withholding of removal, “the applicant must demonstrate that it is ‘more likely than not that he or she would be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion upon removal to [the country in question].’” Silva v. Garland, 993 F.3d 705, 719 (9th Cir. 2021) (quoting 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(b)(2)). The requirement that the applicant show that he or she would be persecuted “on account of” a protected ground is often referred to as the “nexus” requirement. Reyes v. Lynch, 842 F.3d 1125, 1132 n.3 (9th Cir. 2016) (citation omitted). The BIA held that it “need not address credibility” because it affirmed the IJ’s “alternative finding that [Lara] did not establish that it is more likely than not he will be persecuted if returned to Honduras, because he failed to establish a nexus to a protected ground and also failed to submit sufficient reasonably available corroboration.” See Romero v. Garland, 7 F.4th 838, 840 (9th Cir. 2021) 2 (per curiam) (“Our review is limited to those grounds explicitly relied upon by the BIA.” (citation omitted)). Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s determination that Lara failed to establish nexus to a protected ground. Lara alleged that he is a member of the “particular social group of deportees returning from the United States.” However, the record does not compel the conclusion that the Honduran police have persecuted or will persecute him on that basis. See Reyes, 842 F.3d at 1136-37 (stating that to establish nexus, the applicant must show through direct or circumstantial evidence …
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