Elmer Rodofo Alvares Rivas, aka Elmer Rodolfo Alvarez-Rivas 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NOT FOR PUBLICATION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
ELMER RODOFO ALVARES RIVAS,
aka Elmer Rodolfo Alvarez-Rivas,
Petitioner,
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
No. 09-72373
Agency No. A099-465-462
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted September 13, 2010 **
Before: SILVERMAN, CALLAHAN, and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Elmer Rodolfo Alvares Rivas, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions
for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing his
FILED
SEP 21 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C OU R T OF APPE ALS

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09-72373 2
appeal from the immigration judge’s denial of his applications for asylum and
withholding of removal.
We reject Alvares Rivas’s claim that he is eligible for asylum based on his
membership in a particular social group, namely public transportation drivers who
resist gang extortion. See Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir. 2009)
(rejecting as a particular social group “young males in Guatemala who are targeted
for gang recruitment but refuse because they disagree with the gang’s criminal
activities”); 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 Alvares Rivas’s asylum claim based on his anti-gang extortion
political opinion. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84 (1992);
Barrios, 581 F.3d at 854-56. Because Alvares Rivas failed to demonstrate that he
was persecuted on account of a protected ground, we deny the petition as to his
asylum and withholding of removal claims. Id. at 856.
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

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