United States v. 2020-01-10 | 16-73424 | DENNY MARTINEZ-GONZALEZ V. WILLIAM BARR | nonprecedential | memorandum disposition |

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DENNY BALMORE MARTINEZ-
GONZALEZ, AKA Denny Balmores
Martinez-Gonzalez,

Petitioner,

v.

WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General,

Respondent.

No. 16-73424

Agency No. A206-798-806

MEMORANDUM
*

On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted January 8, 2020
**

Before: CALLAHAN, NGUYEN, and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges.
Denny Balmore Martinez-Gonzalez, a native and citizen of El Salvador,
petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order
dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his
applications for asylum and withholding of removal. Our jurisdiction is governed

*
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).
FILED

JAN 10 2020

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

2 16-73424
by 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review de novo questions of law, Cerezo v. Mukasey, 512
F.3d 1163, 1166 (9th Cir. 2008), except to the extent that deference is owed to the
BIA’s interpretation of the governing statutes and regulations, Simeonov v.
Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 532, 535 (9th Cir. 2004). We deny in part and dismiss in part
the petition for review.
The agency did not err in finding that Martinez-Gonzalez failed to establish
membership in a cognizable social group. See Reyes v. Lynch, 842 F.3d 1125,
1131 (9th Cir. 2016) (in order to demonstrate membership in a particular group,
“[t]he applicant must ‘establish that the group is (1) composed of members who
share a common immutable characteristic, (2) defined with particularity, and (3)
socially distinct within the society in question’” (quoting Matter of M-E-V-G-, 26
I. & N. Dec. 227, 237 (BIA 2014))); see also Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d
738, 745-46 (9th Cir. 2008) (holding that young men in El Salvador resisting gang
violence is too loosely defined to meet the requirement for particularity) abrogated
on other grounds by Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2013).
To the extent that Martinez-Gonzalez raises a new social group in his opening
brief, we lack jurisdiction to consider it. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674,
677-78 (9th Cir. 2004) (court lacks jurisdiction to review claims not presented to
the agency). Thus, Martinez-Gonzalez’s asylum and withholding of removal

3 16-73424
claims fail.
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED in part; DISMISSED in part.