Yaneeth Edelmira Guardado-De Rivera v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
YANEETH EDELMIRA GUARDADO-DE
RIVERA,
Petitioner,
v.
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
No. 22-1014
Agency No.
A202-175-633
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted August 23, 2023
Pasadena, California
Before: BERZON, RAWLINSON, and BRESS, Circuit Judges.
Yaneeth Guardado-De Rivera (Guardado-De Rivera), a native and citizen of
El Salvador, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
decision dismissing her appeal of the denial of her application for asylum,
withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
FILED
AUG 30 2023
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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2 22-1014
(CAT). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and we deny the petition for
review.
Guardado-De Rivera waived her challenge to the BIA’s dispositive
conclusion that she failed to establish the Salvadoran government would be unable
or unwilling to protect her from persecution by failing to preserve this issue in her
opening brief. See Escobar Santos v. Garland, 4 F.4th 762, 764 n.1 (9th Cir.
2021). Guardado-De Rivera’s failure in this regard disposes of both her asylum
and withholding of removal claims. See Plancarte Sauceda v. Garland, 23 F.4th
824, 832 (9th Cir. 2022), as amended (requiring an asylum applicant to establish
that “the persecution was committed by the government, or by forces that the
government was unable or unwilling to control”) (citations omitted); see also
Meza-Vasquez v. Garland, 993 F.3d 726, 729 (9th Cir. 2021) (“A government’s
inability or refusal to protect against persecution is a core requirement for
withholding of removal. . . .”) (citation omitted).
Because we dispose of this petition for review based on waiver, we do not
reach the other issues Guardado-De Rivera raises.1
PETITION DENIED.
1Guardado-De Rivera has waived any challenge to the BIA’s denial of CAT relief.
See Escobar Santos, 4 F.4th at 765 n.1.

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