FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT EDGAR RENE CORDOBA, No. 17-71655 Petitioner, Agency No. v. A096-085-156 WILLIAM P. BARR, Respondent. OPINION On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted February 10, 2020 * San Francisco, California Filed June 16, 2020 Before: Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Consuelo M. Callahan, Circuit Judges, and Robert S. Lasnik, ** District Judge. Opinion by Judge Lasnik * The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). ** The Honorable Robert S. Lasnik, United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington, sitting by designation. 2 CORDOBA V. BARR SUMMARY *** Immigration Denying a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of asylum and withholding of removal, the panel held that the Board properly concluded that petitioner’s proposed social group of “wealthy landowners” in Colombia is not cognizable because it lacks particularity and social distinction. The panel explained that to have the social distinction necessary to establish a particular social group, there must be evidence showing that society in general perceives, considers, or recognizes persons sharing the particular characteristic to be a group. The panel concluded that petitioner failed to establish that “wealthy landowners” in Colombia are somehow set-apart, or distinct from other persons within the society in some significant way, and that petitioner’s failure to tie his persecutors’ perceptions of “wealthy landowners” to any broader notions of Colombian society was fatal to his claim. COUNSEL Susan E. Hill, Hill & Piibe Immigration Attorneys, Los Angeles, California, for Petitioner. *** This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. CORDOBA V. BARR 3 Imran R. Zaidi, Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. OPINION LASNIK, District Judge: This case calls upon us to decide whether “wealthy landowners” in Colombia constitute a particular social group for purposes of asylum and withholding of removal. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that they do not. I. A. Edgar Rene Cordoba is a native and citizen of Colombia who applied for and was denied asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). He alleges that he and his family were persecuted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”) due to their status as wealthy landowners. The additional relevant facts underlying Cordoba’s applications for relief are summarized in our prior decision in this matter, Cordoba v. Holder, 726 F.3d 1106, 1109–11 (9th Cir. 2013) (hereinafter “Cordoba I”). B. We previously affirmed the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of Cordoba’s applications for CAT relief and for asylum to the extent they were based on persecution on the basis of his political opinion. See id. at 1117 n.3. However, we granted Cordoba’s petition for 4 CORDOBA V. BARR review of his asylum and withholding of removal claims in ...
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