Jose Luis Rosales Cartagena v. ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent*
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision**
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JOSE LUIS ROSALES CARTAGENA,
Petitioner,
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
No. 09-73597
Agency No. A070-460-868
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted October 19, 2010**
San Francisco, California
Before: O’SCANNLAIN, TALLMAN, and BEA, Circuit Judges.
Jose Luis Rosales Cartegena, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions
for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals which dismissed
his appeal from the immigration judge’s denial of his applications for asylum and
withholding of removal.
FILED
OCT 22 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C OU R T OF APPE ALS

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09-73597 2
We reject Rosales Cartegena’s claim that he is eligible for asylum based on
his membership in a particular social group, namely persons who suffer
persecution due to gang activity, arising from his fear of gangs if he refuses to be
recruited into gangs; and the El Salvador government’s inability to control gangs.
See Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 745-46 (9th Cir. 2008) (rejecting as a
social group “young men in El Salvador resisting gang violence”). We also reject
Rosales Cartegena’s political opinion claim based on his resistance to the gangs.
See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84 (1992) (resisting forced
recruitment does not necessarily constitute persecution on account of political
opinion); Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir. 2009) (resistance to
gang recruitment does not constitute political opinion). Because Rosales
Cartegena failed to demonstrate that he was persecuted on account of a protected
ground, we uphold the agency’s denial of his withholding of removal claim. Id. at
856.
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

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