NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUN 1 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAZEN JARBANDA, No. 18-70114 Petitioner, Agency No. A208-584-466 v. MEMORANDUM* WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Submitted May 15, 2020** San Francisco, California Before: FRIEDLAND and BENNETT, Circuit Judges, and RAKOFF,*** District Judge. Petitioner Mazen Jarbanda, a native and citizen of Syria and permanent resident of Guatemala, appeals the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order * 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). *** The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal, and denial of protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1). We deny in part and grant in part the petition for review, and we remand to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this disposition. The BIA erred when it considered Jarbanda’s asylum claim from both Syria and Guatemala. Asylum is available to refugees, and the Immigration and Nationality Act defines “refugee” as “any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality . . . and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of” a protected ground. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42) (emphases added), see also id. § 1158(b)(1)(A). In order “to receive asylum, a person of dual nationality must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution in both countries.” Sung Kil Jang v. Lynch, 812 F.3d 1187, 1192 (9th Cir. 2015). Although the BIA made no findings regarding whether Jarbanda has dual nationality, it analyzed whether Jarbanda was eligible for asylum from both Syria and from Guatemala. On petition for review of the BIA’s decision, Jarbanda contends that the agency erred in analyzing whether he was eligible for asylum from Guatemala because he is not a national of Guatemala. The Government’s brief “does not offer any argument on 2 the merits of this” contention, so “it has waived any challenge to the argument[] [Jarbanda] raised” regarding the BIA’s error in analyzing asylum from Guatemala. See Martinez v. Sessions, 873 F.3d 655, 660 (9th Cir. 2017). Thus, on remand, the BIA should consider only whether Jarbanda is eligible for asylum from Syria. The BIA also erred when it determined that Jarbanda was ineligible for asylum from Syria because he was “firmly resettled” in Guatemala. Asylum is barred if the applicant “was firmly resettled in another country prior to arriving in the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(vi). “An ...
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