NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAY 23 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JOSE FLORES HERNANDEZ, No. 20-73379 Petitioner, Agency No. A089-093-875 v. MEMORANDUM* MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted May 17, 2022** Seattle, Washington Before: WARDLAW, GOULD, and BENNETT, Circuit Judges. Jose Flores Hernandez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, challenges the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) determination that he lacked a reasonable fear of persecution or torture. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, deny the petition for review, and deny the motion for stay of removal as moot. * 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). During his reasonable fear interview, Hernandez informed an asylum officer that he was afraid the Mara-18 gang in El Salvador would harm him if he were deported. He had once reported the gang to the police after being robbed by three or four of its members. He believed he was targeted because of his wealth. Hernandez testified that the police “did investigate” the incident but closed the case because “there was no evidence.” After Hernandez reported the robbery, some members of the gang kidnapped him and took him to a house where they beat him up, cut him with a knife, held him at gunpoint, and burned a cigarette on him, all while saying he “betrayed them” and that “other people will see what will happen to them if they go to the police to report the Mara-18.” Hernandez did not report this second incident to the police, for fear that the gang “would catch [him] again.” Hernandez testified that he did not fear harm by any public officials, such as the police. Rather, his “fear of returning to El Salvador is just with the Maras because of everything they did.” The asylum officer found Hernandez credible. But the asylum officer found that Hernandez did not establish a reasonable fear of persecution in El Salvador because there is no reasonable possibility that the harm he experienced or feared was on account of his race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. And the officer found Hernandez did not establish a reasonable fear of torture in El Salvador because he did not establish that there is a 2 reasonable possibility that the harm he feared would be inflicted by or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. After hearing additional testimony at a reasonable fear review hearing, the IJ found that, despite his fear of “mistreatment by gang members,” Hernandez had “not demonstrated that he would be persecuted” on a protected ground. The IJ entered an …
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